Second Chance
by Osoyo702
Summary: A tragically war torn and lonely present, a way to return to the past, a chance to make a better future. Not a Harem. Naruto/Hinata... One sided Naruto/Ino... One sided Naruto/Fu
1. Chapter 1

A pair of Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan eyes swirled as they took in the catastrophic scene. Thousands of corpses spread across a vast waste land. The stench of death pungent in the air, and the realization of loss was overwhelming. This once peaceful land has been torn asunder by the selfish and cruel ambitions of one man. A place where life once flourished has been cut down by the cruel scythe of death.

A long white cloak with flames edging the bottom hung off the slumped shoulders of the blonde haired man. His hands dripped with blood as he stared down at the man who had started it all.

"You destroyed everything. My village, my friends, even my family." Naruto said through clenched teeth.

"You have defeated me Naruto, and gained the power I coveted for all these years." Tobi said coughing up blood. "You even gained the eyes of the Uchiha."

"I never wanted these eyes!" shouted Naruto, his eyes brimming with tears, "Sasuke made me take them."

…

A half blinded Naruto and a crying Sakura kneel over a dying Sasuke.

"Naruto, Sakura, I'm sorry for everything, I've been such an idiot." said Sasuke knowing he had only a few minutes left to live.

"It's ok, none of that matters anymore. We're all together again, as team 7." said Sakura forcing back her tears so that Sasuke wouldn't see.

"Yeah, you're going to be just fine. After this war ends we are all going back to Konoha together." said Naruto, secretly praying that these words would become reality.

"Haha, we all know that I won't make it off of this battlefield alive, but you can take a part of me with you." said Sasuke through a bloody mouth, "I want you to have my eyes."

"No, Sasuke we can't do that, we won't." said Sakura finally succumbing to her tears.

"I'm begging you. At the very least, through you these eyes of mine can do some good." Sasuke said through gritted teeth.

"NO-" Sakura began but was cut off quickly by Naruto. "Ok, we'll do it Sasuke, we'll take your eyes."

Sakura reluctantly agreed. Both of Narutos eyes were nearly blinded now, having been severely damaged during battle. Sasuke's intention had been for each of them to take one eye, but Sakura could not bear the thought. So instead she implanted both into Narutos eyes. She could not help crying throughout the entire procedure.

After the surgery was successfully completed Sakura kneelt over Sasuke once more.

"I love you, I always have and I always will." whispered Sakura into Sasukes ear, taking his hand in hers.

"I know." said Sasuke squeezing her hand more tightly, "I…" the last words never came as Sasukes hand fell from her grip, his last smile still etched on his face.

…

Naruto stood before a broken and defeated Tobi, ready to deliver the final blow.

"You deserve to live forever, suffering in all the pain that you have caused the world. But I will show you mercy that you have never given. I will kill you." said Naruto, and without another word he ended the life that had taken so many of Narutos comrades.

Naruto staggered aimlessly through the bloodstained battlefield. He stumbled past the seemingly endless bodies of his enemies and comrades, their faces haunting his every step.

Hinata, Kakashi, Sakura, Sasuke, Sai, Yamato, Guy, Ten-ten, Neji, Lee, Kurenai, Kiba, Shino, Ino, Shikamaru, Choji, Temari, Gaara, Kankurou, Tsunade, Iruka, Konohamaru…

How many had fallen? Too many, far too many.

The weight of grief was upon Narutos shoulders, bearing down on him as if he was holding up the sky itself. Time began to have no meaning, minutes began to feel like years as the empty black void that was loneliness began to devour him.

Naruto fell to the ground, exhaustion overtaking him. He lay there overcome by his grief, wishing for the sweet relief that only death could bring him. But as he began to lose consciousness, a voice whispered, "Naruto, you are not alone. I am here inside you."

"Kurama, you are the only friend that I have left in this world." said Naruto as he appeared in front of the nine-tailed fox. "But I don't think that I can go on. I want you to help me."

"So, what is it that you want me to do?" asked Kurama cautiously.

"I want you to release me from this pain." wept Naruto, "There is nothing left for me here."

"And you want me to do what? Kill you?" replied Kurama, "I will not, but I may know of another way."

"I have told you, I cannot go on. You just don't understand, I have lost everything, everything." said Naruto, "What could you possibly offer me, unless you can raise the dead."

"I can't raise the dead, but I can offer you something else" said Kurama sympathetically, "A way to go back to before any of this happened."

"What, how is that possible?" asked Naruto.

"It is a secret and forbidden jutsu, developed by the sage of six paths near the end of his life. He was the only one ever capable of using it. But it can only be used once, and requires an almost unimaginable amount of chakra." said Kurama. "It is a technique that takes your soul, knowledge, and power to your past self, and merges with it. The cost however, is that the amount of chakra necessary would almost certainly kill you."

"Even if I knew the seals, I don't have nearly enough chakra to use such a powerful technique." Naruto said almost angry at himself.

"That's true you don't." said Kurama, causing Naruto to fall to his knees in despair, "But I do."

Naruto looked up, unwilling to believe what he was hearing. It was too good to be true, there must be a catch.

"Why would you do that for me?" Naruto asked daring to hope.

"Because, it was you who saved me from my own hatred." Said Kurama serenely, "Now I can save you from your sadness, I'd say we're even, wouldn't you?"

"You would really do this for me? How could I ever thank you?" asked Naruto.

"By releasing the seal, and setting me free." Kurama said smiling

"I guess I could manage that, it's the least I could do." Naruto said through tears of happiness, "You're not coming back with me?"

"Oh, I'll be there or at least the old me will." said Kurama, "as for me, I will stay here and enjoy the solitude for a while."

"Thank you." said Naruto, then a little less certain he asked, "Are you sure this is going to work?"

"Just have faith in me, as I have had faith in you." said Kurama "now make the seals…"

There was a blinding flash of light and then darkness.

Naruto awoke on something much softer than the hard earth he had been laying on. There was a certain warmth to it, a warmth he had not felt for a long time. He slowly opened his eyes, and saw that he was in a dark room. He looked around at the familiar walls, he was in his room. He got up cautiously, thinking that he had been placed under a genjutsu, and immediately trying to dispel it. Nothing happened, he tried again, still nothing changed. He walked around his room and stopped abruptly in front of a mirror. Standing where his own reflection should be was indeed Naruto, but a much, much younger version. He couldn't be any older than twelve years old. He ran and looked at the toad calendar hanging on his wall, tomorrow was the graduation exam for the ninja academy.

Was it possible, had he really gone back in time? So Kurama had not been patronizing him, he really did what he had promised. He thought back on the events that felt like moments ago, and realized that they would not take place for nearly five more years. For the first time since losing his comrades, hope had found its way back into Narutos heart. He had time now, he could stop all those horrible things from happening. He could save all the lives that had been taken. He could even save Sasuke from the darkness.

He thought of the Sharingan Sasuke had given him, and subconsciously tried to activate it. To his amazement the normal warm blue of his eyes became overshadowed with the red of the Eternal Mangekyo that had once belonged to Sasuke. He willed them back to his normal eyes and looked away in disgust. So Kurama sent him back with a gift, or maybe there was no escaping Sasukes last gift. He disregarded the thought and decided not to use Sharingan unless absolutely essential.

Naruto sat down for a few more moments, not entirely sure what to do now. He decided to start training this new body of his in all that he had learned in his previous one. First he decided to try out sage mode, so he sat and began to gather nature energy. To his satisfaction, after five minutes he had gone into sage mode without any odd toad attributes. Next he made two clones and began creating the Rasen Shuriken. The first few attempts failed, this body was not yet conditioned for it, but in the end he had managed it. After his Sage mode had run out he began to make a normal Rasengan, it worked but he would definitely need some fine tuning before it was back to its normal power.

Naruto spent what felt like all day training and thinking of a plan to rewrite history. Finally around 6 p.m. he headed out for Ichirakus, to grab a much needed bite to eat. After about six bowls he decided on a course of action, he would have to make sure that tomorrow goes exactly as it did last time. After paying, he headed home catching for a moment the eye of a beautiful young blue haired girl with white eyes and by smiling at her, caused her to blush violently.

'This time, everything will be different.' Naruto thought looking away and smiling serenely to himself.

Naruto practically watched as the day of the exam flew by. First he intentionally failed the exam, then listened to the treacherous Mizuki, and watched as Iruka and Mizuki fought, before finishing Mizuki off himself. Everything was nearly the exact same as it had been the first time, all the way too Iruka giving Naruto his own forehead protector and declaring that Naruto had passed, and would be graduating with the others.

The next day, Naruto walked into the classroom, a grin on his face. Sure, he had passed before but it felt nice to go through this thing once more. He took his seat and listened as Iruka sorted them into their teams. He laughed at Sakura and Ino, he had nearly forgotten how childish they had been when it came to Sasuke. After all the teams had been announced and assigned to a jounin, team 7 had nothing to do but wait.

Naruto, already knowing that Kakashi was going to be extremely late, decided to make the most of it and practice a few jutsu. He sat there silently making hand seals, but not channeling any chakra. His seal making speed already surpassed every genin in the leaf, and most of the chunnin as well. Sakura who was too focused on Sasuke, who was too busy brooding, didn't notice. Finally after what felt like hours, Kakashi walked into the room.

"Wind Style: Falling Petal Dance" whispered Naruto before releasing an intentionally weak version of the jutsu, blowing a small gust of wind at Kakashi, making his hair blow back in a comedic sort of way. Sakura nearly laughed out loud, while Sasuke seemed to be unaffected by it.

"So, what's your first impression?" asked Naruto chuckling slightly.

"Hmmm, my first impression is that I don't like you guys." said Kakashi.

Sakura and Sasuke deadpanned then looked at Naruto with thorough dislike.

"Sensei, Sasuke and I had no idea that Naruto was going to do that." Sakura explained. "Please don't judge us on his actions."

"You are a team now, one person's actions reflect on all of you." Said Kakashi almost bored, "Now meet me on the roof so that we can all get better acquainted."

Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke , team seven quickly ran up to the roof to meet him.

"Ok, let's begin with some introductions." said Kakashi

"What would you like to know?" asked Sakura nervously.

"How about you likes and dislikes, your dreams for the future, your hobbies, things like that." said Kakashi.

"Why don't you introduce yourself to us first?" asked Naruto, though he already knew a great deal about Kakashi.

"Ok, my name is Hatake Kakashi, my like and dislikes are none of your concern, my dreams of the future are…" said Kakashi not finishing his sentence but staring off briefly into the sky, "I have many hobbies. Now it's your turn, starting with you." He finished pointing at Naruto.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto, my likes and dislikes are private. I plan on becoming one of the greatest Hokage ever. I have a few hobbies." said Naruto nonchalantly.

'Ambitious, he's grown interestingly' thought Kakashi, "Next."

Sasuke and Sakura had their turns; it went just as it had before. Kakashi gave them instructions for the next day, and sent them on their way. Naruto walked down to go home with his new team mates when an idea came to him.

"Hey Sasuke, Sakura I think I might have an idea of what tomorrow is all about." said Naruto.

"Why should we listen to biggest loser in the class?" Sasuke said without hesitation, "How would you know anyway?"

"Yeah what makes you think your right?" Sakura said rolling her eyes.

"I just have a really good feeling that's all, just hear me out." said Naruto, "what's the worst that could happen."

Figuring they could just blow him off if it was a dumb idea, they agreed to hear him out.

"You have two minutes, Naruto." said Sasuke sternly.

"Good enough, I believe the exercise is about teamwork, working as a team." said Naruto, "and I have an idea."

The next day team seven arrived at the designated place; Naruto already aware that Kakashi was going to be late approached the other two.

"Are we all clear on the plan? Do you know what to do?" asked Naruto, looking from Sasuke to Sakura.

"Yes, we understand the plan, but are you sure this is going to work?" said Sakura still not fully convinced.

"I'm positive, even if we don't succeed in the task, that if we show how well we work as a team that we can pass this test." said Naruto with such assurance that Sakura had to look away to keep Naruto from seeing her blush.

'Is this the same Naruto from the academy? He seems so much cooler now.' Sakura thought smiling to herself, before quickly changing her train of thought, 'Sasuke is much cooler though.'

"Sakura focus, it's important that we keep our heads in the game." said Sasuke scornfully.

"Sorry." said Sakura taken aback.

"Whatever, just don't space during the real thing, or you'll screw it up for all of us." said Sasuke scathingly.

"Enough, we have to do this as a team or we all fail, so Sasuke lay off, and Sakura stop daydreaming." said Naruto getting irritated. "Now let's get it together, agreed."

Sasuke and Sakura nodded, however they both looked shocked at being given orders by Naruto.

They planned for an additional hour, and even set a few traps before Kakashi arrived, late as usual.

'Hmmm, something is different about these three, this should be interesting.' Kakashi thought.

"Hey guys, good morning." said Kakashi casually as he walked up and set a clock on a tree stump. "It's set for noon."

Kakashi then took out two bells, "Here are two bells, and your task is to take these from me before noon. The person who does not get a bell fails, so at least one of you will be sent back to the academy."

They did not look discouraged at all, if anything they looked even more determined, they had expected this news. Naruto had told them that Kakashi was going to try to split them up, or turn on each other, which confirmed that Naruto was on to something after all.

'Not quite the reaction I was expecting, but it's still early.' Kakashi thought, "None of you will succeed unless you come at me intending to kill. You can even use shuriken."

Kakashi pulled out his book Come Come Paradise. "Begin!" He shouted before he started reading.

Immediately all three split up and prepared for the first stage of the plan.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!" shouted Sasuke as he took aim at Kakashi, who disappeared leaving a charred log in his place.

Kakashi reappeared moments later behind Sasuke ready to strike when he was struck by 5 shuriken in his back, which turned into a cloud of smoke, a shadow clone. He then turned his attention towards Sakura, who had given away her position when she threw the shuriken.

"Sakura get out of there." Sasuke shouted.

'They're better than I thought, but where is Naruto?' thought Kakashi as he pursued the fleeing Kunoichi. Moments later as he cornered Sakura and was about to cast a genjutsu, she smiled and pulled out a kunai.

'A Tai Jutsu match huh? This one has guts.' Kakashi thought pulling out his book again.

"You should pay closer attention sensei." said Sakura as she threw her kunai down at his foot, making him jump back and into a trap wire that almost caught his leg. Kakashi jumped onto a tree, still reading his book, when he heard someone yelling.

"Wind Style: Wind Gale!" Shouts Naruto, as the great gust of wind finally makes contact with the real Kakashi, knock him off the tree and onto the ground, not beaten but a little shaken.

'They orchestrated the whole thing, clever bunch of kids. Who would have thought that they were already so advanced.' thought Kakashi, thoroughly intrigued now. "Well done."

Sasuke and Sakura were now standing next to Naruto, all wearing grins on their faces. They all looked at each other and nodded, before simultaneously attacking Kakashi, Naruto in the lead. And as one, team seven took on Kakashi; Naruto of course was holding back a great deal. After about seven minutes Kakashi had taken the upper hand, Sakura was out of the fight and Sasuke was well on his way to joining her.

"This was fun, but times up boys." said Kakashi, in a somewhat mocking tone, throwing both of them to the ground, and picking up and unconscious Sakura. "Meet me back at the clock for your results." Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Naruto and Sasuke raced back to the clock to find Sakura, now awake, sitting by herself.

"Where is Kakashi-sensei?" Sasuke asked cautiously.

"I don't know; he was gone when I came too." Sakura said slowly, holding a hand to her head, covering the spot where she had been hit.

There was a sudden gust of wind and storm clouds rolled in from seemingly nowhere, and then there was a flash of lightning and a boom of thunder. A second later Kakashi appeared looking angry.

"YOU!" yelled Kakashi in outrage, "Pass." He finished kindly with a small smile.

Sasuke and Sakura deadpanned looking at Naruto in utter disbelief.

_End of Chapter 1_


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry about the long wait, I'm still kind of new to this writing thing. Well this chapters a lot longer than the last, so I hope you like. I would like any type of criticism both good and bad (can't get better if I don't whats wrong lol.) so please read and review. Enjoy**

**Second Chance**

**Chapter 2.**

Naruto sat at Ichirakus enjoying a few bowls of ramen after a long boring week of D-rank missions. Everything was peaceful for now, but memories of the future still haunted Narutos thoughts. As he got up to leave he spotted, once again, a beautiful blue haired girl with white eyes, this time however she was accompanied by her teammates.

'Now's a good a time as any.' Naruto thought before walking up to the group. "Hey Kiba, Shino, Hinata, how's it going."

"Hey Naruto." said Kiba

"H-h-hello Naruto." said Hinata in little more than a whisper, already beginning to blush. Shino merely nodded at Naruto.

"Where are you guys headed too?" asked Naruto.

"We're headed over to the training ground to meet Kurenai-sensei." Kiba answered.

"Getting a little training in, before your next mission huh." said Naruto with a smile, "Hinata, um do you think I could have a word with you… in private?" He looked directly into her eyes when he asked; she began to blush furiously and looked away.

"We're kind of in a hurry, actually." said Kiba harshly before Hinata had a chance to answer.

"It will only take a second, I promise dog breath." Naruto shot back, giving Kiba a dirty look, before turning back to Hinata and offering a smile.

"O-ok Naruto." said Hinata turning to her teammates and bowing, "I will be right back, please wait for me." She finished and turned towards Naruto, her face absolutely scarlet now. As they walked away, Kiba stood there frozen in his own fury and confusion.

"What does she see in that pathetic loser anyway?" Kiba spat, turning to Shino for an answer. "He's the biggest idiot I've ever seen and she won't even look at anyone else. He's never even noticed her before, what's he trying to pull?"

"Why are you so upset? They only went to talk." said Shino in a monotone, Kiba acted as though he did not hear his team mate as he kicked a rock the ricochet off a wall and hit him in the back of his, making him even more frustrated. Shino merely shook his head at the illogical behavior of his teammate.

Naruto and Hinata walked slowly around the corner, the young kunoichi unable to look at his face. She had wished for the opportunity to talk with the boy she had admired for so long and now when that wish had come true, she couldn't even speak. As they came to a stop just outside of the Yamanaka Flower shop, she found herself staring at the ground, pressing her fingers together in a clearly nervous way.

'I had almost forgotten she used to that.' Naruto thought to himself before smiling at her, "Can you wait here for just a second Hinata?"

"Umm o-of course N-Naruto…" Hinata began to say in barely more than a whisper, before he turned around and walked directly into the flower shop, leaving her standing there alone and extremely confused. She watch as he walked right up Ino and began talking her, thought she could not hear what they were discussing. 'What's going on? Why did he bring me here and then leave? Could he be getting me flowers?' Hinata began to think but cut herself off of that train of thought, 'No, there's no way that Naruto would ever do that for me, maybe for Sakura, but not me.' She thought sadly and began staring at the ground once more.

"Hey Ino, I need your help with something." said Naruto walking up to his old classmate and fellow genin.

"What is it Naruto, we don't sell ramen her you know." said Ino waspishly.

"I know that, I need your help picking out flowers for someone special." said Naruto blushing slightly, catching the blonde kunoichi slightly off guard.

"Really, who is it, Sakura?" said Ino rolling her eyes and thinking to herself, 'Good luck, that billboard brow would never give you the time of day."

"Actually it's for Hinata." said Naruto turning a slightly deeper shade of red now.

"Oh!" said Ino completely shocked at what she had just heard, she had known forever now that Hinata liked Naruto, everyone knew, but she would never have guessed that he liked her as well.

"Yeah, so um, what kind of flower do you think Hinata would like?" Naruto asked

"I'm not sure, but I have an idea on what she might like, I know she likes to press flowers." Ino said in a somewhat quieter voice, going slightly pink as well. "Here let me show you."

A few minutes later, Naruto made up his mind and bought a flower he was sure Hinata would like. He thanked Ino, and walked back out to Hinata, who was still waiting outside for him.

"Hinata, sorry about that, took a little longer than I thought it would." said Naruto grinning and rubbing the back of his neck, hiding the flower in his other hand.

"I-its ok, it wasn't that long N-Naruto." Hinata said unable to look at his eyes, "You wanted to t-talk with me?"

"Yeah I did. There was something I wanted to ask you." Naruto said hesitating slightly. "I was kind of hoping that you would, if you don't have other plans that is, have a bowl of ramen with me tonight." He finished turning an impressive shade of red. Hinatas head had shot straight up and looked directly at Naruto, with a look of utter shock and an even deeper shade of red on her face than Naruto had ever seen there before.

"I-I-I-I would l-l-like t-that, N-Naruto." Hinata said after what seemed like minutes, this had to be a dream, Naruto had just asked her on a date, this couldn't be real.

"Really, you will?" said Naruto a smile erupting as he spoke.

Unable to speak any more Hinata nodded with a shy smile. "Great, should I go to your house to meet you?" asked Naruto remembering for an instant how it had gone when had asked permission to date Hinata from Hiashi, her father and the head of the Hyuuga Clan.

Flashback

"Lord Hiashi, I would like to talk with you." Naruto asked respectively.

"And what would you like to talk about boy, perhaps why you of all Konoha shinobi, have the nerve to be on a date with my daughter." Replied Hiashi with malice in his voice

"Actually that is the very reason; I want to ask, with your blessing, to date Lady Hinata." Naruto asked, hoping that he was not being to forward.

Hiashi looked as though his worst fear had come true.

"Why my daughter, the next head of the Hyuuga clan, what do you want to accomplish by this?" Hiashi asked as though accusing Naruto of sabotage.

"With all due respect Lord Hiashi, the only the thing I want to accomplish is to make Hinata happy." Naruto replied heatedly

"What are you after, is it money, you will not see any. I will never allow it." Hiashi nearly shouted, his temper rising.

"Your arrogance and conceit know no bounds do they old man, , the only thing that I desire is to be with Hinata, and for you, her father, to be happy for her." Naruto calmly said though his temper equaled that of Hiashi, "All I ask from you is to make this easier on Hinata, to not think about you for once."

Hiashi fell quiet, not knowing how to respond to what Naruto had said. Maybe he had always been a bit too hard on Hinata, but she was, after all, the next in line to rule the Hyuuga clan, he could not be soft on her. But this boy, there was something in his eyes that spoke the truth. Hiashi could tell that his intentions were true, that he really did care for Hinata.

"We shall speak of this no more tonight, I will arrange a meeting with Hinata and yourself, until then however you are to speak of this to no one. I will think about what you said tonight, now good night to you." Hiashi said finally.

"That's good enough for me, good night Lord Hiashi." Naruto said smirking, knowing that he had gotten to the old man. "By the way, breakfast is on me."

End of Flashback

"I d-don't think that w-would be a good idea." Hinata said looking scared, and shaking her head.

"That's ok, we can meet up at the training ground and go from there." Naruto said, "How does that sound?"

"Ok." Hinata said looking relieved.

"It's a date then. For you." Naruto said holding out the flower he had bought for her, a Heavenly Blue Morning Glory. She took the flower, fighting the urge to faint. "I'll see you tonight." Naruto said before swiftly kissing Hinata on the cheek, causing her blush so violently he would be surprised if you couldn't see her in the dark.

Hinata just stood there as he left, in complete shock of what had just happened. She reached up to the place where his lips had made contact with her skin, and small smile appeared before she actually did faint. Luckily, Shino was there to catch her before she hit the ground. Kiba was also there, slowly filling with a rage he couldn't explain as he looked at the flower still clutched in Hinatas hand.

Naruto was jumping from rooftop to rooftop, feeling more elated than he had ever before. 'This time we'll have so much more time.' He thought as remembered how little he had had with Hinata last time.

After she had woken back up outside the flower shop, Hinata along with her team rushed to the training field to meet up with their Sensei, Kurenai. When they got there, Kurenai was already waiting, a scowl on her face.

"You're late." Kurenai said calmly, but there was an undertone of impatience and irritation there as well.

"Yeah, well we had to wait for Hinata here to wake up, when she fainted after her "boyfriend" left." Kiba said scathingly, earning a small quizzical glance from Shino, though it went unnoticed because of his dark glasses. Kurenai however looked at Hinata then at Kiba, then back again.

"I'm sorry Sensei." Hinata said in a small voice, bowing her head in apology.

"Boyfriend?" Kurenai asked Hinata with a slightly raised eyebrow. 'My shy Hinata has a boyfriend, and here I thought she infatuated with that Uzumaki boy from Kakashi's team.'

"H-he's not my b-boyfriend, w-we're just having d-dinner, that's all." Hinata said quietly turning red once more. "I don't think he likes m-me in that way." She added sadly.

"He liked you enough to give that flower." Kiba spat angrily.

Kurenai looked down and indeed saw a blue flower held firmly yet carefully in Hinatas hand. It looked almost as though she were protecting the flower from harm, while ensuring she didn't drop it. The Jonin looked from at the blushing Hinata, and then at the flower, and then at the still fuming Kiba as everything fell into place. The boy from the Inuzuka clan was jealous.

"Who gave you that flower Hinata?" Kurenai asked in a tender voice. Hinata was too shy to answer, but blushed even more deeply, instead Shino took the initiative and answered for his teammate, "It was Naruto Uzumaki."

As soon as he had spoken, silence surrounded team 8. Kiba was scowling, Shino was simply himself, Hinata couldn't look at anyone, but Kurenai was openly shocked. She could never really understand her students' interest in Konoha's number one trouble maker, but for him to suddenly return that interest made her feel very suspicious. Kurenai had never once seen Naruto even acknowledge Hinata, and now he was asking her on a date. Something just didn't sit right with the Jonin, and she was beginning to get concerned about his intentions, and Hinatas well-being. It was bad enough that she was treated the way she was by her father. She would not let this boy break Hinatas heart; she would get to the bottom of this.

"Well that's sweet, when will you and Naruto be going to dinner?" Kurenai said with a fake but highly convincing smile.

"U-um, we are having dinner t-together tonight Sensei." Hinata whispered, "H-he's meeting m-me here first."

Kiba looked as though he had been punched, 'She's going out with that loser tonight!' he had clenched his fists in anger and another emotion he couldn't quite explain. 'Why is she wasting her time on that loser? She could do so much better.' He thought savagely, 'Why should I care anyways? She can do whatever she likes.'

Kibas anger did not go unnoticed by Kurenai; however she decided not to call him out on it at this time. She turned back to Hinata, "Congratulations Hinata, I'm happy for you, but now it's time to train."

Team 8 trained hard that day, especially Hinata, she seemed to be a lot more confident than she normally was, and Kiba was far more quiet and sulky than Kurenai had ever seen him. Shino spent most of his time quietly observing his teammates, Hinata however hardly noticed anything at all, she couldn't help but imagine how her date would go tonight, 'I'm actually going on a date with Naruto.' She still could hardly believe it was real. Kurenai released them early under the excuse that Hinata had done exceptionally well and earned a little extra time to get ready for her date. Hearing that Kiba stormed off as soon as they were dismissed, Shino followed calmly afterwards. Kurenai however asked Hinata to wait with her for a moment.

"I didn't want to ask in front of your teammates, but does your father know about your date with Naruto?" Kurenai asked, Hinata immediately froze looking terrified, and then very slowly began to shake her head. "Do you any intentions on telling him?" Kurenai continued seriously.

"I-I hadn't thought about t-that." Hinata said honestly, her eyes begging to water. She knew that her father would never approve of her dating, especially Naruto. "P-please don't t-tell him." Hinata said beginning to cry a little now, hating herself for being so weak.

"I won't Hinata, but I think that you should. He will find out eventually." Kurenai said in very understanding tone, startled a little at how Hinata had reacted.

"I-I-I w-will Sensei." Stuttered Hinata relieved at her teachers words.

"Have fun, and be careful Hinata. Your dismissed." said Kurenai with a warm smile.

"Thank you Kurenai-Sensei." Hinata said before bowing and then turned to leave.

Kurenai watched as Hinata disappeared from sight, the turned and disappeared in a puff of smoke, a few minutes later she was landing next to Narutos apartment building before casting a Genjutsu on herself to keeping anyone from seeing her. As she entered the boys' apartment she was slightly taken aback by the almost nonexistent smell of the place, Lavender. As she silently searched the apartment, she was surprised at how clean it was, she had always assumed that most boys Narutos age were slobs. She went through his drawers, his cabinets, his closet, even his fridge which was surprisingly well stocked. Plenty of fruits and vegetables, she found nothing odd or suspicious about the place until she got to his bed. When she lifted the mattress she was shocked to see a small box with an A-rank seal upon, it also bore the unmistakable mark of the Fourth Hokage.

'How in the world did this child manage to get his hands on that?' Kurenai thought to herself, a small frown appearing on her lips. She went to take the box so she could deliver it back to the Hokage when she saw that it was opened, 'That's not possible, no Genin would be able to break that seal, I doubt many Jonin could do that.' She opened the box and was stunned at what she saw inside. There were technique scrolls from the Fourth, odd shaped tri-tipped kunai, jewelry, special weights with seals on them, as well as folded up clothing that showed a small amount of flame embroidered on the bottom. As she reached to pick up a tri-tipped kunai, she jumped back as a regular kunai flew past her face slightly grazing her cheek.

"Now, now Sensei, we should not touch what doesn't belong to us." said a deadly voice from behind her, and releasing a wave of killing intent so potent that it froze Kurenai in place for a moment. As she turned around she saw that it was none other than Naruto himself. She was in shock now, not only did this child get behind her without her noticing, but he could have easily killer her with that kunai.

"Just who are you?" Kurenai asked in a strong voice, banishing the fear that had gripped her only a moment ago. "How did you get that box? How did you open it? And what do want with Hinata Hyuga?" Kurenai asked calmly now.

Naruto chuckled before answering, "I am Naruto Uzumaki. As for your second question, that box and all its contents are my birth rights, and were given to me from Grandpa Hokage. As to how I opened it, well I unsealed it, Duh. And the only thing that I want from Hinata is to make her happy." Naruto said slightly blushing as he said the last part, "But know this Kurenai-Sensei, what I have told you are High level secrets that no one else can know about. So before you decide to take matters into your own hands again, consult the Hokage, you should probably go and report to him now." Naruto said as he moved over to his bed and closed the box, before resealing it, and turning back to her with a fresh wave killing intent, "By the way, had you actually taken something out of that box without my chakra, it would have killed you, your welcome, now get out of my home, I have a date to get ready for."

Kurenai was jumping from roof top to roof top as fast as she could towards Hokage Tower. This couldn't be true, there was no way that demon brat was the heir of the Fourth Hokage. She wouldn't believe it, she couldn't. She had to admit that the resemblance between the two was there, though it had to be purely coincidental. When she reached the entrance, she completely disregarded the two Chunin guards as well as the secretary. She ran all the way up to the Hokages office and burst through the door only to find the Hokage, Kakashi Hatake, Inoichi Yamanaka and Ibiki Moreno, all apparently waiting for her.

"Lord Hokage, I'm sorry for interrupting, but I must speak with you immediately." Kurenai said impatiently, "It's about…"

"Naruto." Sarutobi said with a grim smile on his face. "He has already informed us on the matter, please have a seat, and we will explain."

"How did he already let you all know, I left his apartment not five minutes ago." Kurenai asked shocked.

"Let's just say Naruto has a quicker means of relaying information. Before he confronted you in his apartment he sent out four shadow clones, one for each of us letting us know the situation."

"And what exactly is the situation? Who or what is Naruto Uzumaki?" Kurenai demanded.

"First and most importantly Kurenai, Naruto is a Shinobi of the Leaf; he is loyal, both to his village and to his friends." Kakashi spoke up calmly, though there was a hint of finality in his voice. "Secondly the Naruto that you have seen since graduation is not the problem causing prankster he once was."

"What do you mean? Who is he then?" Kurenai asked again, losing more and more patience every time she had to repeat her question.

"We are getting to that, but first let me say that this is top secret information, punishable by death, if you were to reveal what you learn here today." Sarutobi said before doing a combination of hand signs and shouting out "Ninja Art: Sound Barrier". The room glowed with chakra for a moment before it faded. No sounds could be heard coming from outside the room.

"I understand lord Hokage." Kurenai murmured.

"Then let us begin the story as I know it." Sarutobi said with small sigh.

Two weeks ago.

Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage sat in his office, going through paper work that seemed to never end, when a young blond boy entered his office.

As he looked at the young boy, he felt a surge of pride and sorrow. Before him stood the legacy of Minato Namikaze, The Fourth Hokage, his successor and sadly his predecessor as well. A hero of the Leaf, and the young boy resemblance to his father was uncanny, his personality however he had inherited from his mother, Kushina Uzumaki, the previous jinchuuriki of the nine tailed fox. He saw them every time he looked at the young blond. He felt sad, because the boy himself has never known his family, and he could not tell him, not yet. He knew that the villagers' treatment of the boy was harsh, and at times horrible. Jiraiya, the boys godfather, who had been secretly keeping tabs on him whenever he was in the village, had offered to take the boy with him instead, despising the villagers for the way they had treated his students son. He was an outcast, and he didn't even know why. The adults' attitude towards the 'demon brat' did not go unnoticed by their children, resulting in the boy having no friends. Since becoming a ninja however, the boy seemed to be making friends, both within his team and outside of it as well. He was growing into a fine Shinobi indeed.

"Naruto, how I can help you?" Sarutobi said with a warm and welcoming smile.

"There is something I would like to talk with you about, Lord Hokage." Naruto said very business-like, "It's very important, and I need you to believe me without a shadow of a doubt. So if you could summon Inoichi Yamanaka, Ibiki Moreno and my Sensei Kakashi, then we can get this over with." Naruto finished, looking at an openly stunned Hokage.

"What is this all about Naruto, why do you need them?" Sarutobi asked looking intently into Narutos eyes.

"What I have to say will be incredibly hard to believe, and the only proof that I have of its truth, is in my mind." Naruto answered calmly.

"Very well Naruto, I will hear what you have to say, and have Inoichi and Ibiki check the evidence." Sarutobi said unsure of what was happening.

Ten minutes later the three Jonin entered the room looking slightly irritated.

"You summoned us Lord Hokage." The Jonin said in unison.

"I did but it was actually Naruto here who has requested your presence." Sarutobi said gesturing towards Naruto, before performing the sound barrier jutsu. "The floor is yours Naruto." He finished as he sat down and gave Naruto his complete attention.

"Thank you Lord Hokage. The story I'm about to tell you all is one that you will not believe at first, you might assume it's a prank or a joke, but please hear me out." Naruto asked seriously before beginning. "I am not from this time; I am actually from about eight 5years in the future. Not physically of course but spiritually, and mentally. I come from a time where war has ravished not only Konoha, but the entire world. An organization by the name of Akatsuki began to hunt down and capture my fellow Jinchuuriki, yes I know about the nine tailed fox that my father has sealed inside of me. Their leader Obito Uchiha, under the guidance of Madara Uchiha, planned on using the combined power of all nine Tailed beasts, to resurrect the Juubi. The purpose was to use the power of the ten tails, to ensnare the entire world in a genjutsu of supposed peace. To accomplish he still needed the power of Killer-Bee from Kumogakure, host of the eight tails, as well as my own. To get us out in the open he started a war with the ninja world. There was a great alliance, and the battle was won for us, but at a very heavy price and with many lives lost. No one in this room with the exception of me lived to see the end of that horrible battle. Lord Hokage, you met your demise long before that war at the hands of your own student, the Snake Sannin Orochimaru. He killed and impersonated the Kazekage, before the upcoming Chunin exam. During the second part of the exam, in the forest of death, he also placed a curse mark on Sasuke Uchiha, leading to Sasuke leaving the village and joining him to get more power, so he could avenge his clan by killing Itachi Uchiha. Sasuke, after learning the truth of the coupe de ta against Konoha to take back power for the Uchiha, sought new vengeance against Konoha, and more specifically against the village elders who ordered Itachi to commit the genocide, especially Danzo Shimura who had given the order. In the end Sasuke killed Danzo. Sunagakure under orders of the false Kazekage allied with Otogakure attacked our village before the end of the last match. After your death, Lord Jiraiya and I left in search of your last student, the Slug Sannin, Lady Tsunade who later became the Fifth Hokage, she too died in the war in her battle with a resurrected Madara. Jiraiya died in a fight with the Akatsuki leader, his own student, Nagato also known as pain. All these things are preventable if we take the necessary steps now. As for you proof Inoichi and Ibiki I give you full permission to enter my mind and see for yourselves." Naruto finished his summary of events then turned to face his teacher and comrade, "I'm sorry sensei, but the Obito that you once knew has become a very different person, but he is alive."

Kakashi didn't know what to say to any of this, he didn't want to believe any of it, but he knew not even Naruto would make up such an elaborate lie. His normally calm and bored demeanor was gone, his half hidden face looked shocked, confused and in pain. He had to know if this was true, he had too.

"Inoichi, I want you to clarify this. Go into Narutos mind and find the truth, and if need be Ibiki will do a secondary check." Sarutobi said looking directly at the Jonin.

"Yes Lord Hokage." Inoichi said as he placed a hand on Narutos head and readied himself for the dive into the boys mind. He closed his eyes and found himself not searching at all, there were no lies, no alterations, just memories, far too many memories for a twelve year boy too have. He watched as the time stream flowed in front of him, clarifying everything Naruto had said, as well as things he did not say, as he saw the lifeless form of his own daughter, though an older version, lying at the feet of some unknown shinobi, before Naruto swiftly threw a kunai into his throat killing the bastard immediately. The last thing Inoichi saw was a bright light and then everything started over again. He immediately took his hand from the boys head, he had spent what felt like weeks watching the awful memories, but in reality only five minutes had passed. "Everything that Naruto has said is true Lord Hokage." Inoichi said panting slightly, looking incredulously at the boy.

"Show me." Sarutobi demanded in a calm voice, "Ibiki, Kakashi you should see this as well."

Five minutes later they all stood there in shock, staring at Naruto as though they had never seen anything like him. There was no arguing what they had just seen, even if they wanted too. Ibiki felt there was no need for his investigation. They all looked to the Hokage for instructions on what to do next.

"Well Naruto, what are the preventive steps that need to be taken?" Sarutobi asked with a grim look on his face, and a tired look in his eyes showing just how old the man was.

"First we need to reach out to all the Jinchuuriki and their respected villages and let them know just who the targets are, as well as all the information on the members of Akatsuki." Naruto said getting straight to the point. "We need to build alliances and I will need to go personally to speak with each of them, after all the only person who can truly understand a Jinchuuriki is another Jinchuuriki." He finished with a grin.

Everyone deadpanned at the boldness of the young boy in front of them. Not only was he asking for something that had never been done, he was also telling them without telling them that he would himself be the convoy for the village.

"Is that all?" asked Sarutobi.

"Not quite, there are two more things I would like to discuss. First I would like the inheritance that was left for me by my parents. Secondly I think it would be in everyone's best interest if Sasuke was told about the truth of the Uchiha clan before its gets out of hand, as well as Itachi to be removed from the missing ninja list and asked to return to Konoha." Naruto finished and turned to walk to the door, he placed his hand on the handle then turned his head slightly and spoke directly to Sarutobi, "I think that you should seriously consider my words, and keep this conversation between the people in this room."

Naruto then opened the door and left, leaving in the room three completely shocked and speechless Jonin, and one extremely stressed Hokage.

Kurenai stood in shock at what she has just been told; it certainly was a lot to swallow. She would have suspected a prank of some sort but knew that the Hokage was not one for pranks, and more than anyone else there, Ibiki would never tolerate such a thing.

"I, of course gave the boy his inheritance, sent out messengers to the Villages that possess the Jinchuuriki, and have instructed Kakashi here to schedule a time for me and the young Uchiha boy to have a sit down to discuss what really happened the night his clan was massacred. As for inviting Itachi back, well I have a plan as to how I wish to go about with that." Sarutobi said into the uncomfortable silence. "Is there anything else you would like to know Kurenai?"

The female Jonin shook her head, "Then you are dismissed." Sarutobi said releasing the sound barrier as she turned to leave.

Sunagakure

"Lord Kazekage, there is a message here from the Hokage of Konoha." A sand ninja said as he handed a scroll to leader of the sand village. The Kazekage unraveled the scroll and began to read, a curious look on his face after he finished.

"It appears that our ally not only knows of Gaara being a Jinchuuriki, but is requesting that his own Jinchuuriki be able to meet with him." said the Kazekage, 'But what is this warning about Orochimaru? Either way I'll have to keep an eye open for him and tighten security.' He thought before looking at the rest of the list, there seemed to be quite a lot of information on this alleged group 'Akatsuki', however one name jumped out at him that he was not suspecting, 'Sasori of the red sand'. This was a bit unsettling, he had heard stories of the S-Rank missing Nin; however there was a great deal of detail on puppeteer as well as on his jutsu and his puppets. What was even more shocking was that his favorite puppet was none other than his predecessor, the Third Kazekage. After thinking it through for a moment he wrote down a reply agreeing to the Hokage's request, as well as asking for a time and place for two Kage and Jinchuuriki to meet.

"Send this to Konoha with our fastest messenger eagle." The Kazekage said quickly handing a scroll back to the Sand ninja. "And after bring my son Gaara to me, there is a matter I wish to speak with him."

"Yes Lord Kazekage." The sand ninja said trying to hide the fear in his voice; he did not want to be the one to get Gaara.

Kumogakure

"Lord Raikage, an urgent message from the Hokage of Konoha." Mabui, the personal assistant of the Fourth Raikage, said running into the office only to find the man exercising, ignoring the huge stack of documents she had left there for him five hours ago.

"What could that old bastard want with us?" The Raikage asked snatching the scroll out of her hand, before she had even seen him move. He sat down and began unrolling the scroll, and gaping at what was written upon it.

"What does it say?" Mabui asked seeing the reaction on his face.

"They want to be our ally, and I don't know how he found out but he knows that we have two Jinchuuriki, and he knows who they are. His own jinchuuriki wants to meet with them." The Raikage said not bothering to take his eyes off the scroll.

"They know about Nii and Bee? How could they possibly know about them? Do you think this could be a trap?" Mabui asked fear apparent in her voice.

"I don't think this is a trap, but it could work out in our favor. If we were able to kill the Jinchuuriki, it would remove a potential threat from the Leaf." The Raikage said lost in his thought now. "Bring Nii and Bee here immediately."

"Yes Lord Raikage." Mabui said before disappearing in a puff of smoke

Fifteen minutes later Mabui along with Killer Bee and Nii Yugito walked into the office.

"You summoned us Lord Raikage?" Nii asked as she lined up next to Bee.

"Yes, I have a mission for you two." The Raikage said and evil smirk on his face.

Iwagakure

"Lord Tsuchikage, we have just received a message from Konoha." A woman with short black hair and pink eyes said as she walked into the old man's office.

"Let me see." The grumpy old man said gesturing for the Kunoichi to bring him the scroll rather than get up and get it himself. His face from irritation to intrigue as he read through the scroll, he finished reading with a very smug look on his face. "It would seem that Konoha want to ally themselves with us, they no doubt heard of rising power and wish to with rather than against us."

"What are you talking about old man? Are you finally going senile?" the Kunoichi asked losing patience with the aged Kage.

"Stop being so damn so insolent Kurotsuchi, some granddaughter you turned out to be." Onoki shouted, standing up from his chair barely able to see over the large desk, before starting to complain about back pain and cursing under his breath about disrespectful youngsters.

"Yeah yeah yeah, I think it's about time that you named a successor and retired." Kurotsuchi said rolling her eyes as the old man was still complaining about bodily pain. "Anyway, why does Konoha want to ally with us? What else did the letter say?"

"I will tell you as soon as you get Roushi and Han." Onoki said sitting back down on his chair and closing his eyes as he rubbed his back.

"Yes Lord Tsuchikage." Kurotsuchi said sarcastically bowing in exaggerated way before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

"Rude brat." Onoki said shaking his head.

Half an hour later, the three ninja walked into the office.

"They're here now spill, what's going on with Konoha?" Kurotsuchi said looking annoyed.

"Well first of all, Konoha knows the identity of our two Jinchuuriki here, as well as your names abilities. How they know these details is, as of right now, unknown. However it would seem that the Hokage wishes for his own Jinchuuriki to meet with you two. This would be a great opportunity for us to display just how much power we have, and possibly acquire a powerful ally as well. If nothing else it puts us in a position to take out the Leafs Jinchuuriki to put us at a greater advantage.

"I will be counting on you two, if we cannot find agreeable conditions for our alliance you are too take out the Jinchuuriki." Onoki said looking from the Han (a tall figure with light brown eyes, who was dressed in red steam armor and a red straw hat) to Roushi (An older man with red hair, beard and mustache, that wore light red clothing.). They both nodded in agreement, before turning to leave. In the minds of both men however they had no intention of following the old man's instructions. After this 'meeting' they would both be leaving the village and going down their own paths.

Kirigakure

A slender young lady with long auburn hair that covered one of her green eyes sat at her desk reading a scroll that had arrived fifteen minutes prior. She read and reread the scroll until it was engraved into her memory. She then thought on what was written, an alliance with Konoha was indeed a good idea, and a meeting with their Jinchuuriki didn't sound too bad either. She simply pulled out a blank scroll, after weighing the pros and cons for about an hour, and asked for a time and place for the meeting. She then sealed the scroll and sent it back to Konoha with her fastest personal messenger eagle.

Takigakure

A very young girl with spiky mint green hair and orange eyes sat near a waterfall reading a scroll that had just been delivered to her personally. At first she had found this very odd, she had no family and no friends. She had been exiled by her village for the monster that they had sealed inside of her. But as she read the letter, she was greatly intrigued as to what it said. It was an invitation for her, if she so desired, to come to Konoha and meet with a boy named Naruto Uzumaki. She had never encountered said boy before but what she read next made her answer an easy one, he was a fellow Jinchuuriki. She immediately sent a reply back saying she would be there in a week or so.

"Finally, someone else like me." Fu said to herself before packing up what little possessions she had and began making her way toward the Land of Fire.

Konohagakure

Naruto was going through his closet trying to find something decent to wear, he knew that soon he was going to have to go shopping; nearly everything that he owned was orange.

In truth he was quite fond of the color, but the real reason was that all of the clothing shop owners had refused to sell anything to the 'demon boy'.

He would take care of that later however, he found a fairly nice black shirt and pants that weren't orange and got dressed. He didn't want to be late for his date with Hinata. He took one last glance in the mirror and decided he looked ok; he still needed a new wardrobe though.

Hyuga Compound

Hinata was in her room thinking on what to wear for her date with Naruto. She wasn't sure what she should do, she didn't want to dress too casual in case he was taking her somewhere nice, but she didn't want to dress too nicely in case he had a more casual setting in mind.

It was all so confusing, she still hadn't completely accepted the fact that he asked her on a date. She didn't even think that he had noticed her before. Sure they had spoken a few times, but she had always assumed that he liked Sakura.

She was so confused, but she wasn't going to let that stop her, she finally had a chance to spend time with the boy she admired and she couldn't just let that slip through her fingers. Even if she still couldn't admit her feelings for him.

Hinata decided on a simple t-shirt and shorts, nothing too short though, she still was not very confident in her appearance. Overall she thought she looked ok as she made her way to the training grounds to meet Naruto.

Naruto sat waiting patiently at the training field for Hinata. He was still not entirely sure what to say at this point. There was one thing however that he needed to ask her, he just wondered how should take to it.

After contemplating and trying to come up with a plan for five minutes, he had a general idea of how he wanted things to go. However making a plan and executing it were two entirely different things.

A few minutes later Naruto could see Hinata on her to meet him; even though he was sure of her feelings he still couldn't help but be nervous.

He had realized far too late his feelings for her the last time. He would not have any more regrets this time around. He turned and closed the distance between them quickly.

"Hinata I'm glad you came." Naruto said smiling at her, "I thought you might stand me up, or something." He finished playfully

"I-I wouldn't that, that would be m-mean." Hinata said not looking at him, trying to hide how pink her cheeks were; even though it was dark enough outside that it was hardly necessary. "S-so, um what did you h-have planned?"

"You don't have to be so nervous Hinata." Naruto said quickly but gently taking her hand into his own, nearly causing her to faint, 'How could I have been so dense that I never even noticed these types of things last time.'

Hinata was frozen in place just staring at the hand that was now holding her own, 'He's holding my hand, he's actually holding my hand. Does this mean he really likes me?' Hinata's mind was going haywire with what was happening.

Sure she had fantasized about Naruto running up to her and holding her hand and admitting his feelings for her, but it was just that, they were fantasies. She had never dreamed that it would actually happen. She hadn't prepared for this.

"Hinata are you ok?" Naruto said grinning slightly as he waved a hand in front of the shy Kunoichi's face, trying to get her to snap out of it. "Hello, earth to Hinata."

She slowly looked up at him, wide eyed and red faced from embarrassment. "S-s-sorry."

"It's ok Hinata. I actually really like that about you. You're very beautiful when you blush." Naruto said truthfully.

'He, he, he, Naruto just said that I was beautiful.' Hinata thought as the earth underneath her began to move up towards her, or perhaps she was just moving down towards it. Either way it didn't matter because Naruto had said that she was beautiful.

'Ok maybe that was a bit too much at once.' Naruto thought as he caught Hinata in his arms, she fainted. 'This kind of changes the plan.'

Naruto created three shadow clones, and gave them instructions. One was to go to Ichirakus and get dinner, the other was to go to Narutos apartment and get a large blanket and a pillow, the last one was to go collect firewood.

After about ten minutes the clone that had gone to his apartment returned. Naruto laid Hinata on the blanket, resting her head on the pillow. The other clone was starting the fire a few feet away.

A few minutes later Hinata stirred and found herself laying down, she looked up at the sky and for a moment she couldn't remember how she had gotten there. She remembered a dream where she had gone to meet Naruto for a date; he had called her beautiful and held her hand. She was still for a moment smiling to herself trying to hold on to the moment for as she could. It had been a good dream.

"I'm glad to see that your awake, I thought I might have to use smelling salts." A voice said startling Hinata out of her thoughts.

She turned her head to see Naruto sitting close to her and smiling with a look in his eye that she had not seen since her mother had died. It was the same way that her father had once looked at her mother. They were filled warmth, kindness, adoration and love. 'Love?'

Hinata sat there for what seemed like days lost in those blue eyes that had seen so often in her dreams, until she realized what was going on. She had not been dreaming at all. This was real, she had gone to see Naruto, he had called her beautiful and he had held her hand, not only that but he was looking at her like she was some kind of angel or goddess.

"Are you okay Hinata?" Naruto asked moving a little closer to her, concerned when she remained silent.

Hinata looked away, embarrassed by the tenderness in his voice. "I'm sorry, yes I'm ok thank you." surprising herself a little, she had not stuttered this time. "I'm sorry for ruining your plans." She said looking away from Naruto, fearing that he would be upset with her. Only to feel Naruto's hand gently takes hers again.

"No need to be sorry Hinata, you haven't ruined anything. It's not exactly what I had in mind but it's still nice, besides I'm still here with you after all." He said truthfully, it didn't matter to him where they were as long as he was with her.

Now however wasn't the time to tell her just how strong his feelings for her were, he didn't want to rush things, or scare her away. She had waited years for him to notice her; he could wait a little longer for her. It was at this time that his last clone came running over holding what looked a mountain of Ichiraku takeout.

"If I couldn't take you to dinner, the least I could do was bring dinner to you." Naruto said smiling at her. "I got you miso flavor, I hope that's ok."

"I-it is, it's actually my favorite, t-thank you Naruto." Hinata said blushing slightly again, taking the food that he was handing her.

They sat and ate together, in a comfortable silence for a while/ Naruto was on his sixth bowl as Hinata was finishing her first. She set her empty bowl down and looked to her date; she couldn't stop herself from giggling at the boy. He seemed to empty his last bowl in a single mouthful.

"Ah, that was great." Naruto said after draining the bowl.

"Y-yes it was very d-delicious, thank you." Hinata said with a shy smile.

"I'm glad you liked it." Naruto said smiling at her. And after taking a moment to clean up he turned back to her, "Hinata, there is something I would like to talk to you about."

"Y-Yes, what is it Naruto?" Hinata asked nervous, she had been enjoying herself, but now she was worried that maybe Naruto had not.

"Well, you see I really like you Hinata." Naruto said seeing the impact those words had on the wide eyed kunoichi. "And I would like to see you more often, as more than friends." Naruto said it a little quicker than he meant to, but was pleased to see Hinata blushing furiously.

"Y-y-you d-do?" Hinata barely managed to get the words out, she could hardly believe her ears. It was like one of her fantasies coming true.

"Yes, I really do." Naruto said, "Do you? Because if you don't then its ok, we can still be friends, I won't be mad or anything, I just thought I wou…" he was cut off as Hinata suddenly said well kind of yelled out "Yes".

They both stood there a little shocked at her outburst. "I-I-I mean yes, I would love to." Hinata said embarrassed

"R-really?" Naruto asked happily, Hinata merely nodded not trusting her voice at the moment.

Naruto walked over and pulled her into a tight hug, she nearly fainted again, she had dreamed of embracing him for so long and now it was happening. She felt as though she could fly, she couldn't remember being so happy. After a moment she wrapped her arms around Naruto and embraced him back.

They held each other for what seemed like forever. Naruto was breathing in the scent that he loved and missed, and Hinata engraving everything about this moment into her memory. No matter what happened after she would forever have it with her.

_End of Chapter 2_


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry about taking so long to update. Anyways her it is chapter 3 hope you enjoy.**

**Again feedback is always welcome.**

**Chapter 3**

Naruto awoke to a feeling that was both new and familiar to him: happiness. It had been a few weeks since his first date with Hinata, and everything was working out nicely. Naruto had been waking up early every morning to get in a few extra hours of training, and convinced Hinata to train with him the week before. He told her that they could become stronger if they worked together, and that her father would finally see her true potential.

His real reason for convincing her to train was to prepare her for what was inevitably going to come her way, and to hopefully prevent history from repeating itself. He refused to allow her to fall victim to Neji, Pein or Obito this time around. He vowed to save her from that fate.

After Naruto finished his normal morning routine he ran to his closet and grabbed a small box of leg and arm weights that were engraved with a special seal. Holding them carefully in his hands, he silently fingered the intricate seal etched into the weights before putting a lid on the box, tying a small bow on top, then placing them carefully into his backpack and running out of the door.

'_Crap, I'm gonna be really late. I bet Hinata's already there.' _ Naruto thought as he ran out of his house. He began to run and jump even faster, hopping swiftly from roof top to roof top. Naruto hoped that Hinata hadn't been waiting for too long, and that she wasn't upset with him. _'I hope she doesn't think that I stood her up.'_

**Hyuga Compound**

Hinata sat in her room already dressed and ready to meet Naruto. The thought of being alone with him, even if it was only to train, made her cheeks so red a tomato would be envious. No matter how much time she spent with him, she still felt just as shy. She still blushed uncontrollably when he was around. Although she rarely fainted when he came near her anymore, she often came close when he kissed her.

Hinata was the happiest she had been in many years. She hadn't felt this blissful since before the day that her uncle Hizashi was killed in her father's place. That was a dark time indeed.

But all of that was behind her now. With Naruto's help her confidence and self-esteem had grown a great deal. Everyone who knew Hinata noticed the change in the young Kunoichi, especially her father. For the first time in a long while, he acknowledged her existence.

**Flashback**

Hinata was panting slightly, smiling as she finished a sparring match with her younger sister Hanabi. It had been a while since their previous match which ended in Hanabi's victory and Hinata being told that she was a failure and a disappointment by her father.

Today was different however. She now had a flame burning within her, a reason to win and a person she could not bear to let down. Determined, Hinata fought with such skill and grace that it shocked both Hanabi and her father, who had not been prepared for the change. With her new found confidence, Hinata was finally able to defeat her younger sister.

'_Where did that come from?' _Hanabi thought as she picked herself up from the ground. _'She's almost as good as Neji.'_

"Where did you learn those techniques?" Hiashi asked showing no sign of concern or emotion as he turned from Hanabi to Hinata. "I do not recall teaching you that".

"I have been practicing it after I saw you use it father." Hinata said bowing to him.

"Really? I had no idea you were so skilled already." Hiashi said, still upholding his stoic disposition. "Meet me back here after you have completed your missions today and we shall see how far you have come."

"Yes father." Hinata said barely keeping the happiness out of her voice.

"You did well. You are dismissed." Hiashi said with a wave of his hand. Both girls left and closed the door behind them. When Hiashi was certain that they were gone, he let his emotionless mask slip for just a moment to reveal the smallest of smiles. _'Finally_. _I don't know what has brought about this change, but I pray that it is permanent'._ Hiashi thought. At that moment he felt a surge of pride for his eldest daughter. He often wished that he didn't have to be so hard on her all of the time. But he also knew that as an heiress, he could not allow her to be weak if she were to lead the clan one day.

Meanwhile, Hinata sat on her bed mindfully recollecting all of what had taken place that day. Not only had she finally beat her little sister, her father actually praised her. Hinata smiled as she could see she was finally on the right track to becoming the person her father expected her to be.

End of Flashback

Hinata couldn't believe it had actually happened, and it was all thanks to Naruto. He helped her, not just in giving her a confidence boost, but also with her family's Tai jutsu Style. He helped her sharpen the skills she already had and even taught her new moves. She couldn't figure out how he knew them. The only thing he told her when she asked was that he tell her in due time. Hinata took his word for it and allowed him to teach her. Even though he couldn't actually use any of the techniques (that required the Byakugan), he knew the movements and stances perfectly. Under his instruction and support, Hinata's skill in the Gentle Fist was multiplied three fold in only a week.

As for today, Hinata was exceptionally excited because Naruto told her that he had a surprise for her. She had no idea what it could be, but she didn't particularly care. She was sure she would love anything that he gave her, simply because it came from him.

She turned to look at her clock. It was time for her to leave now. Hinata was nearly out of her door when she remembered to grab the binto she made earlier. Today was her day to choose breakfast. Hinata and Naruto had agreed beforehand that ramen wasn't healthy to eat _every _morning. So they decided to create a schedule where they would switch off every day between Ichirakus and a homemade binto.

Hinata grabbed the box and sprinted out of her house and, wearing an enthusiastic smile, quickly took to the rooftops, which was the fastest way to the training fields.

Naruto arrived only a few minutes late. He found Hinata standing near a pole already in her Jyuuken Stance practicing while she waited for him. Very quietly, Naruto made his way behind her. Right before he was able to land a kiss on her cheek she shyly dodged with a blush and a small smile.

'Byakugan' Naruto thought simply, turning his head and giving her a big grin. "Good morning Hinata."

"Good morning Naruto." Hinata said stepping towards him and allowing him to pull her into a tight hug. She loved the way he held her, like she was the most precious thing on earth. It was one of her favorite parts of the day. After a moment she wrapped her arms around him too. He gave her a gentle peck on her cheek before breaking the hug, much to Hinata's disappointment.

"Did you sleep well?" Naruto asked as he looked her over.

"Yes I did, thank you." Hinata replied blushing at how he looked at her. "How did you sleep?" She asked unable to look at him.

"I slept very well." Naruto said honestly. "I had a dream about the most beautiful angle." He finished with a faraway look in his eyes, not noticing the crushed look on Hinata's face. She quickly turned away from him so that he would not see the tears that were threatening to escape her eyes.

"Oh." Hinata whispered, not trusting her voice, She was about to run away when a pair of strong arms encircled her waist and held her.

"Yes, then I woke up and remembered that she would be waiting for me here. And wouldn't you know it; she's standing right in front of me. The most beautiful woman to ever grace this earth and I bet she doesn't even know it." Naruto said quietly into Hinata's ear before slowly walking in front of her.

He placed his finger gently under her chin and lifted it up and saw a steady flow of tears leaking from her lavender eyes. He slowly wiped them all away until she stopped crying. She looked into the cerulean eyes that she loved. Hinata could get lost in those eyes. She felt that she could look into them forever and never grow tired of them. To her it was like looking into a vast ocean filled with love and tenderness, of understanding and acceptance; a never ending strength that promised safety and protection. Without thinking Hinata moved closer to Naruto and kissed him on the lips. Her head was spinning and everything seemed to slow down (everything but her heart that is). The last thing she saw was Naruto smiling at her his eyes blazing, when she fainted.

'Wow I definitely wasn't expecting that.' Naruto thought as he lifted Hinata up bridal style and carried her into a grassy area underneath a shady tree. He sat down with Hinata still in his arms. He moved her around so that she was leaning against him, her head resting comfortably against his chest. They sat that way for nearly half an hour.

Meanwhile, hidden in a nearby tree, a young woman was watching with a mix of envy and sadness in her eyes. She had been watching the blonde boy from afar for a few days now. Although she had yet to speak to him, she felt an undeniable closeness to him. She had seen the way many villagers looked upon the poor boy. It was a look that she had seen many times directed towards her.

As she looked at the boy, she felt an odd pull toward him. His smile seemed so pure, untainted by the cold, uncaring and hate-filled looks that were constantly sent his way for something that he did not have control over. She knew that pain all too well.

"Lord Hokage wishes to speak with you." an Anbu member wearing a bear mask said appearing behind the girl.

She nodded, completely unsurprised by the sudden appearance of the elite ninja behind her. Although the Hokage welcomed her to the village and gave her permission to explore if she wanted, she knew she would be followed wherever she went. She gave one last look at the young blonde boy, before turning and heading off towards Hokage tower with her escort.

Back at the tree Naruto sat with the still unconscious Hinata. 'I wonder how long she's just going to just watch me.' He thought. He was aware of the young lady tailing him the past few days. He decided to let it continue for a little while longer.

Naruto was suddenly pulled out of his thoughts by a small "Eep!" which signified that Hinata had finally regained consciousness She slowly turned her face to look up at him, turning deep red as she saw his blue looking into her lavender ones. She also couldn't help but notice that his arms were wrapped securely around her waist, with her hand in his. She nearly fainted again.

"S-sorry Naruto-kun," Hinata said barely above a whisper as she began to press her fingers together, a habit she often did when she was nervous or embarrassed. "H-how long was I out?" She asked looking even more ashamed.

"Not long." Naruto said flashing his fox grin.

After they got up Naruto turned from Hinata and pulled something out of his backpack. A few seconds later he turned around with his hands behind his back. "Close your eyes." He told Hinata. She did as he asked. "Ok, you can open them."

Hinata opened her eyes and saw Naruto standing with a medium sized box in his hands. "F-for m-me?" she stammered. Naruto nodded, smile still on his face, as he handed her the box. Her face lit up as she took it and fell slightly as he let go. The box was so heavy the poor petite girl's arms nearly came off as it shot straight toward the ground. Naruto caught it before either hit the ground. "Sorry, they're still adjusted to me. I forgot." Naruto said bowing in apology, worried that she was hurt.

"I-its ok Na-Naruto-kun." Hinata said rubbing her shoulders that had come perilously close to being dislocated. "What's in there?"

Naruto set the box on the ground with ease, and then motioned for her to come over. "Open it." He told her. As she did her eyes grew wide. Inside the box were slender, elegant looking arm and leg weights attached to a silky lilac colored material. Hinata marveled at the intricate seals etched on each weight. She had never seen such a complex seal on training weights before.

"W-where did you get these?" Hinata asked still in awe of her gift.

"I made them. Well, I created the seals anyway." Naruto said scratching the back of his head. "Do you like them?"

"Yes they're beautiful." Hinata said without hesitation. "But…I-I can't accept these Naruto-kun."

"Why not?" Naruto asked, his smile faltering slightly.

"I-I-I can't lift them." Hinata looked away, ashamed of her weakness.

Understanding filled the blonde. "Don't worry about that. The weights can be adjusted. Here look." He took her hand and placed it on one of the weights. "Just let a little chakra flow into them." Concentrating, Hinata let her chakra flow and the weight instantly glowed in a bright blue hue. After a few seconds the other weights followed suit and began to illuminate in the same manner.

"Now try to lift it." Hinata obeyed and to her surprise, she was able to raise them without Naruto's help. Although the weights were still relatively heavy, they were much easier to handle then when she first held them. "See? Now they will only react to your chakra." Naruto finished grinning.

"How did you make these? This must be way beyond chunin level seals." Hinata asked without stuttering.

"A tale for another time." Naruto said dismissively. "Now, let me explain how they work." When Hinata did not press the subject, he continued. "These are more than just training weights. They are special in many ways. First of all, you will never have to replace them. They will grow heavier the stronger you become. You will never even notice the change." Hinata again looked in awe, unable to articulate her thoughts.

"Secondly," Naruto continued, "they require almost no maintenance. They are completely resistant to heat, cold, electricity, dirt, rust, and all forms of liquid." Naruto looked at Hinata in amusement before moving on. "Thirdly, if you have to ever take them off, you don't have to worry about losing them. I placed a summoning seal on them; all you have to do is make the hand signs and call them back."

Hinata looked more amazed still. "Finally, and this is probably the best part, these weights also have a chakra reserve seal." When Hinata look confused he elaborated: "It's a seal that, for the entire time you wear them, collects and stores you chakra until you decide to release it. It also helps to build up your own chakra reserves, seeing as it is constantly taking chakra from you." Naruto finished, laughing openly at Hinata's open mouth.

"Thank You." Hinata said with tears of happiness in her eyes. "I can't believe you would give these to me. They must be one of a kind."

"Actually there's one more set." Naruto said rolling back his sleeve, revealing another set of weights, nearly identical to Hinata's weights, except the silky material attached to Naruto's was a silver color.

"You could say we match now." He added shyly, making her blush slightly.

"Thank you." Hinata said again. "I will cherish them always." Then, blushing again, she looked down and asked in a shy voice, "Can you help me put them on?"

"Of course." Naruto said, blushing slightly as well. With steady and well-practiced hands he positioned all four weights securely in place. "How do you feel?" He asked.

"Heavy." She admitted. "But let's get started."

With that the couple began their normal morning training.

Hokage Tower

"I see you've been stalking Naruto again." Sarutobi stated bluntly, looking at the young girl ANBU just brought in. "Any chance you've spoken to him yet?"

The young girl looked at Hokage, unashamed though blushing slightly, and shook her head no.

"Well I suggest you get a move on. The meeting date has been decided. You and Naruto will be leaving in two weeks." Sarutobi said smiling at the Kunoichi as she nodded her head, stating that she understood. She turned to leave once again but stopped when the Hokage spoke again. "Try to open up a little more. This is your home now."

She looked at him with guarded eyes. "I will try Lord Hokage." She said with a small smile.

"One more thing, and I am happy to say that my student will be in the village soon, he is a seal master and will be more than happy to take a look at your seal, and repair or replace it if necessary." Sarutobi said watching the girl's reaction closely. Many things flashed across her face, but in the end the girl looked relieved. Satisfied, he gave her a small nod. "You are dismissed Fu."

With that the young Jinchuuriki left, feeling that her decision to join the leaf was a good one.

Training Ground Seven: Three hours later.

Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura stood waiting for Kakashi who was running late yet again. They were supposed to meet up at 10 am for training, so naturally ten minutes before eleven; they met at the designated place.

"Yo sorry I'm late, I got lost on the road of life." Kakashi said, appearing in a swirl of leaves.

"Liar." Team seven said as one.

Kakashi sweat dropped, "Anyway, I have good news for you three. Starting today we will have an addition to our team, for now at least. She is new to our village, but a very capable and talented Kunoichi."

"A five man team? That's unheard of Kakashi-sensei." Sakura said looking confused, Sasuke nodded his head in agreement, and Naruto merely shrugged already knowing who the newcomer was.

"As I said it's only a temporary situation. Just until she can find a team of her own, and until then Lord Hokage has requested personally that she placed on this team." Kakashi said in his usual bored manner, he then looked toward the nearby trees and nodded his head, a moment later a young girl no older than the three in front of Kakashi appeared.

The girl had mint green hair and orange eyes, "Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura this is Fu." Kakashi said introducing her to his team.

Fu looked at each member of team seven in turn, lingering much longer on Naruto as a slight blush appearing on her tanned cheeks.

'She's checking out Naruto! That's fine as long as she stays away from my Sasuke-kun.' Sakura thought to herself with a slight pang of jealousy that she couldn't explain.

Fu bowed her head to her new team, then took her place next to Naruto and waited for further instructions with the others.

"Ok, well first I would like to see where you are skill wise, so how about a light spar with one of your new comrades?" Kakashi asked looking at Fu.

"Sounds good, so who wants to get beat first?" Fu said with confidence that could match her blonde counterpart.

Before Naruto could step forward and accept her challenge, Sasuke laughed, "Ha, I'll fight you, but let me warn you I won't hold back." He said arrogantly.

"I wouldn't want it any other way Emo-san." Fu said smiling at the look of murder in the Uchiha's eyes. "Let's do this."

"I warned you." Sasuke spat.

"Well then, seeing as you two appear to be eager to start," Kakashi took a step back, Naruto and Sakura mirroring him, "Begin."

Not even two minutes later the fight came to an end, Fu standing over an unconscious Sasuke. "Who's next?" she said grinning from ear to ear.

"Actually I think I've seen enough." Kakashi said giving her his eye smile.

"Oh, ok." Fu said sounding a little disappointed shooting a quick glance at Naruto, that didn't go unnoticed by the blonde or Kakashi. "So what are we going to do now?"

"I am going to report to the Hokage and get a new training plan ready. As for you guys, take the day off to train on your own, rest or do whatever. We'll meet up here tomorrow morning at 9 for missions and training." Kakashi said before turning and disappearing in whirl of leaves.

"So what do you guys want to do?" Fu asked turning back to the others. Sakura apparently didn't hear; too busy worrying over Sasuke who was still unconscious on the ground.

Naruto just shrugged his shoulders, "Want to go get some ramen? I know the best place in the village." Fu agreed, enthusiastically nodding her head, "We can just leave these two here." He said pointing at his other teammates.

Naruto and Fu walked in a comfortable silence for a few minutes before he stopped and said to no one in particular, "You guys can go now, I can handle this on my own." Four shadows jumped from there respected hiding places landing in front of the two Jinchuuriki.

"We have orders from Hokage-sama to keep a close watch on her until further orders." The ANBU wearing a tiger mask said stepping forward.

"Well in that case here are your 'further orders'." Naruto said pulling a scroll out of his pocket and handing it to the ANBU. After a few moments 'Tiger' nodded and gave a hand signal, he and the others three behind him disappeared.

Naruto turned to the green haired kunoichi, "I hate being followed, don't you?" When she didn't respond he continued, "now that we have a little privacy, there are a few things that I need to talk to you about. Follow me."

"Where are we going?" Fu asked not bothering to keep the mistrust hidden from her voice.

"My apartment of course." He said turning down an alleyway, Fu followed reluctantly, but did not ask any more questions.

Five minutes later they arrived at his apartment, Naruto opened his door to see none other than Jiraiya of the Sannin sitting on his couch. When they walked in the legendary ninja looked up and upon seeing Fu, lit up in a lecherous smile.

"Hmmm, who might this little beauty be? Your secret lover? A friend with benefits? Your mistress? And here I thought the young Hyuga girl was the apple of your eye. You're more like me than I thought." Jiraiya said as Fu blushed furiously while Naruto had a vein throbbing in his head.

"Damn it you pervert, it's nothing like." Naruto said punching the sage into the ground. "This is Fu, she's the Jinchuuriki to the seven-tails. She's here so you can take a look at her seal; I'm still not good enough yet."

Jiraiya instantly got into his serious mode, "Ah, ok let me take a look at your seal young lady." Fu looked apprehensive at first, but quickly got over it and channeled chakra revealing the seal on her stomach.

Jiraiya look at her seal intensely, taking in every aspect of it, trying to figure out ways to improve it, after about fifteen minutes of study he finally spoke.

"This was a very botched up seal. It would be fine if it was for sealing the Nanabi into an object or something of that sort, but on a person, let's just say that you're lucky to still be alive." He said looking seriously at Fu, who looked shocked at his words.

"Is there anything that you can do about it, reinforce it or replace it?" Fu asked, fear in her voice.

"There is, but it is very dangerous. The pain alone can be nearly unbearable, and there is a chance that you could die." Jiraiya said making sure to emphasize the seriousness of the risk involved. "on the other hand, if it is successful then your control of the Nanabi's chakra will be much easier. You can become far more powerful and much less susceptible to being taken over by it."

Fu was quiet for a few moments, weighing the pros and cons in her mind, trying to decide what she wanted, "When can we do this?" Fu said with a nervous smile.

"Now if you like." Jiraiya said with a small grin.

"Ok, let's do this." Fu said steeling herself the worst.

"Are you sure about this?" Jiraiya asked, When Fu nodded determinedly, he turned to Naruto, "Naruto I'm going to need your help on this one."

"Ok, I'll do whatever I can." Naruto said with the same determination in his eyes. He looked down at Fu who was now laying down on his bed, "Don't worry, I wont let you die I promise, and I never go back on my word." He said with a smile, before Jiraiya put his glowing hand next to her right temple.

Fu felt her eyes grow heavy, the last thing she saw was Naruto, his deep blue eyes, his warm smile and his hair seemingly glowing gold with the sunlight hitting it. She blushed slightly, as she returned his smile before her eyes finally closed and she fell into her jutsu induced sleep. 'Naruto Uzumaki, I think I could…'

Hinata sat waiting for Naruto, who was already half an hour late. She began to worry, Naruto was never this late.

'If he's not here in fifteen minutes I'm going to check on him.' Hinata thought pressing her index fingers together, and biting her bottom lips nervously.

"Hey Hinata-chan, what are you doing out here so early?" An obnoxiously loud voice called out breaking her out of her thoughts. She looked up to see Kiba walking towards her Akamaru on his head.

"K-Kiba-san, I'm actually waiting for Naruto-kun, w-we train together every morning. H-he's just running a little l-late." Hinata said to her teammate but didn't notice how his face fell when she mentioned Naruto. "You haven't seen him, h-have you?"

"Not since yesterday, he was going to his place with some girl." Kiba said watching Hinata's reaction closely, when her face fell he continued, "They looked like they were in a hurry." Kiba said the last part as though it was insignificant, knowing that it would tear into his team mates heart like a dagger.

"O-oh, I-I'm s-sure it w-wasn't l-like that." Hinata said trying to hold back the tears in her eyes. "I-I have to g-go." Hinata finished before running off in the direction of Naruto's apartment.

'I'm sorry that you have to be in pain Hinata, but you deserve better than that loser. Maybe when you open your eyes, you'll see he's not what you think, and maybe you'll see that I can be everything you need.' Kiba thought as he watched her running away crying.

"Arf, arf arf." Akamaru barked at his owner.

"Yeah yeah I know, I didn't want to make her cry either, but it's for the best boy." Kiba said scratching his dogs head. "Lets go Akamaru." And with that Kiba walked off, still thinking of how to win Hinata over once she leaves Naruto.

Knock knock knock… knock knock knock… "N-Naruto-Kun are you home?" Hinata knock at his door again, a few moments later the door opens revealing Naruto in a towel.

"Hinata-hime," Naruto said pulling the blushing kunoichi into a hug, placing a light kiss on her cheek. "I was just getting ready to go meet you, I just sent out a messenger toad letting you know, but obviously you missed him."

"N-Naruto-kun, c-can I a-ask you s-something?" Hinata said steeling herself for the blow that she was sure was going to come.

"Of course Hinata, what is it?" asked Naruto a look of concern on his face after getting a better look at the Hinata, seeing what looked like dried tears on her cheeks, "What's wrong Hinata, did something happen? Did someone hurt you?" he asked angrily, prepared to inflict a significant amount of pain on whoever it was that made her cry.

"N-No, I-it's nothing like that. I-I was t-talking to K-Kiba and he t-told me that you b-brought a girl here." Hinata said again fighting back tears, "I-is it true?"

Before Naruto could answer however Fu, not knowing what was going on, chose that moment to walk up behind Naruto who was still standing in the door way.

"Naruto-kun, what's going on, is someone here?" Fu said rubbing her eyes sleepily.

"I-I-I s-see, s-sorry t-to b-b-bother you." Hinata said succumbing to tears, she tried to turn to run away but felt Naruto grab onto her hand. "L-let m-me go N-Naruto-kun." She whimpered trying fruitlessly to wrench her hand away from his.

"Hinata-hime, why are you acting this way? Nothing has happened between me and Fu, I swear." Naruto pleaded with her, "She's the new member of my team, and she had uh something that she needed to do here."

Hinata froze suddenly angry, "W-what? W-what was so I-important that she had to s-spend the night." She yelled at him.

"I-I can't tell you, it's a secret." Naruto said hanging his head in defeat but not letting go of her hand.

"I-it's always s-secrets with you, y-you can n-never tell me a-anything." Hinata yelled at him again.

"Hinata I…" Naruto began to explain but was cut off by yet another voice from inside his apartment.

"You might as well tell her brat. Or you might just lose her." Jiraiya said picking himself up off the couch he was just sleeping on. "Besides I won't be able to sleep of she keeps yelling like that."

"Lord Jiraiya, please forgive me, I didn't know you were here. I-I-I thought…" she lowered her head in embarrassment, 'How could I have been so stupid, I didn't give him a chance to explain. I really am hopeless.' Hinata thought completely depressed now, bowing low to everyone she said, "I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about kid, we had a long night and didn't have the energy to leave so we all just crashed here. Fu, who needed the most rest took the bed, Naruto slept on the floor and had the couch." Jiraiya said waving off the apology.

Naruto placed a hand on her shoulder, "It's ok Hinata, you didn't know. But Jiraiya is right; I do owe you an explanation, so now I'm going to tell you everything. You might want to take a seat."

Hinata sat quietly in her room, consumed in her own thoughts. She was still trying to fathom all that she had learned only a few short hours ago. Some made so much since now that she knew the truth, such as why Naruto was treated the way he was without any apparent reason. It was all clear now, she felt even closer to him now that she knew his secret.

She felt absolutely horrible for thinking so lowly of Naruto, although she wouldn't blame him if he had chosen to be with someone else, rather than the Hyuga failure.

She also felt a tad bit of jealousy knowing that the girl Fu shared a similar burden, and was obviously quite taken with Naruto. She could relate to him on a level that Hinata could not, not to mention she was apparently a strong and skilled Kunoichi. Yes the young mint haired girl made Hinata uncomfortable, not that she had actually done anything to attempt to take Naruto away, it was the fact that if she did, Hinata felt as though the choice was easy. 'Why would Naruto ever choose me over her? I'm weak and almost completely useless, and she's strong and pretty. She can relate to his pain and help heal him in ways that I never could.'

Over all it wasn't exactly a good morning for the shy Hyuga heiress and she still had the whole day ahead of her. Coming to terms with the fact that she couldn't stay in her room all say, Hinata left to meet up with her team.

"Are you quite sure?" said a woman with long auburn hair to a man kneeling in front of her.

"Yes, I am positive my Lady. Their location has been confirmed, the message from Konoha has proven to be accurate. What are your orders now my Lady." The man answered.

"Considering what they have told us so far has been reliable, we will oblige their request. You will lead a team, and bring back the two targets alive. Kill the third target, I will send a message to Hiruzen Sarutobi."

"Yes my Lady, however there is no need to waste time sending a message, they have already sent a messenger." The man said pointing to the door. "You may come in now."

"Surely a messenger hawk would be far faster than…" She was cut off as a small toad hopped into the room and landed in front of her. "Oh, I see. Ao you are dismissed, do not fail me."

"I will not fail Lady Mizukage." Ao said standing up and leaving the room.

"I would like you to give this to Lord Hokage only." Mei said writing down a message on a scroll, and handing it to him.

"Understood Lady Mizukage." The toad said before strapping it to his back, making a hand sign and disappearing in small puff of smoke.

'A formidable enemy could make a great ally.' Mei thought as she went back to face a truly formidable foe that all Kage had to face…Paperwork.

"A C-Rank mission huh, sounds good to me. How about you guys?" Naruto asked his teammates, Sakura shrugged, Fu nodded with a smile, and Sasuke as usual acted as though it wasn't worth his time to answer the blonde.

'It's about time; I'll never get any stronger with all these stupid D-Ranks. They're just a waste of my time.' Sasuke thought scowling in his mind. "What's the mission anyways?" He asked looking toward his teacher who had already started reading his little orange book.

"It's a protection mission, for a bridge builder named Tazuna. We'll be heading out in one hour, we'll meet in front of the main gate, so I suggest you all go and get ready, bring enough supplies for about a month. Hopefully it won't take that long, but one can never be too careful." Kakashi giving Naruto a knowing look, "Fu, you however will be staying here. The Hokage has asked that you remain behind for this mission. He has arranged for you to be trained by one of Konoha's most talented Kunoichi."

Fu looked fairly disappointed but nodded her head in acceptance. "Come with me and I will take you to her."

Fu nodded again, then waved to the others in goodbye, then started to walk away before turning back and running up to Naruto, giving him a tight hug and whispering "Be careful", then blushing furiously running back to Kakashi's side without looking back again.

This did not go unnoticed by Sakura or Sasuke who were looking at Naruto with a surprised look on their faces.

"What was that all about?" Sakura asked.

Naruto merely shrugged his shoulders, "I'm her only friend."

"Oh, I think she might want more than just friendship by the looks of it." Sakura said with an accusing tone.

Again Naruto only shrugged before he cracked a mischievous grin, "Jealous?" he said teasingly, making Sakura blush slightly.

"N-n-no, I'm not je-je-jealous. I was only…" Sakura sputtered out before she was cut off by Naruto.

"Chill Sakura, I was only joking. Well I'll see you in an hour." Naruto said before taking off at incredible speed, disappearing from sight in seconds.

Sakura watched him go in confusion, before she turned to face Sasuke, who was already gone. 'I'm not jealous over Naruto, am I? I mean he's Naruto, the dead last. He's annoying, obnoxious, and hyperactive, he can never take anything seriously.'

'Well he hasn't been any of that since graduation, it like he matured ten years overnight. He seems stronger too, and smarter than I remember him being. If it wasn't for him we might not have passed Kakashi-sensei's test." Sakura was so lost in her thoughts as she walked through the village toward her house, that she walked right into someone, tripping on each other they both fell to the ground.

"I'm so sor…" Sakura began but stopped as she saw who it was that she walked into.

"Watch where you're going, Billboard-brow!" Ino yelled at her ex-friend while picking herself up off the ground.

"You watch it Ino-Pig!" Sakura yelled back, all thoughts of apologizing forgotten.

"You walked into me forehead-girl!" Ino yelled

For five minutes the insults continued until both girls' voices were tired from continuous yelling, neither willing to let the other get the last word in.

"Ugh, what were doing anyways, walking around not looking where you're going?" Ino said trying to end the little spat that was going on.

"Oh, uh... you see... the thing is..." Sakura said a light blush creeping up her cheeks, unable to think of a lie and definitely unwilling to say the truth.

"You were daydreaming about Sasuke-kun again weren't you?" Ino spat out scathingly. 'I wish we had never met that boy.' Ino thought to herself.

Ino had long since been over crush on the Uchiha, ever since the day that Sakura had ended their friendship over him. That was a horrible day for the young Yamanaka heiress, Sakura had become one of her very best friends, and she regretted ever letting a boy come between them. However not wanting to have the bond she had forged with the pink haired girl broken completely she settled on just being her rival in 'love', even if she had no real feelings for the object of her supposed affection. In truth there was another boy who had caught her eye, though she would never in a million years admit to it.

"No, I was just thinking about Nar- Uh I mean something else." Sakura said blushing once again and looking down hoping that Ino had not caught what she had almost said. She didn't see the look on her rivals face when she realized what she had just said.

"Oh, oh ok, I'll let you go back to your thoughts then." Ino said as she turned and walked away.

Sakura sighed as she watched the blonde walk away. 'Good, I don't think she heard me.' Sakura thought as she continued on her way home.

Ino walked into her family's flower shop, still unsure of what to make of what Sakura had said. She put on her apron, and went to stand behind the counter. 'She couldn't have been talking about 'him' could she? There's no way she would ever have feelings for him, could there? No, he must have done something to annoy her, or something. Yeah that has to be it. But then she didn't look annoyed or angry, she didn't even look a little irritated until she walked into me.'

The young kunoichi was so absorbed in her thought that she didn't notice when a customer entered the shop or that he was standing directly in front of her waiting to purchase the flowers he had picked out.

"Earth to Ino, is anyone home up there." said Shikamaru waving a hand in front of her and snapping his fingers loudly. "Troublesome woman."

"Huh, oh it's you, sorry what did you want?" Ino said forcing herself back to reality.

"Such a pain, anyways, my dad sent me to get these, and Asuma-Sensei told me to tell you that we won't be meeting up until four this afternoon." Shikamaru said lazily handing Ino money for the flowers and walking out leaving her to her thoughts once more.

'Stupid Shikamaru.' Ino thought harshly getting back to work, realizing that it was not a good time to be lost in her thoughts, 'Stupid Naruto.'

Naruto finished gathering all the supplies he thought he would need for his mission, everything from the bare essentials to a technique scroll that he could study and practice in his spare time, which he was assured to have. He sealed everything up into scrolls and left to see Hinata before he left the village, not only to reassure her that he was coming back, but also to reassure himself that she would be waiting for him.

Naruto arrived at training ground eight, to find Team Kurenai getting ready for what appeared to be another D-Rank mission. He made a beeline for the smallest member, but before he made it halfway he was stopped abruptly by her obnoxious teammate.

"What the hell do you want Blondie?" Kiba asked stepping in front of Naruto, trying to block his path to Hinata.

"None of your business dog boy." Naruto said moving around Kiba so fast that said boy didn't even notice him move.

"Hinata-chan can we ta…" Naruto never finished his question as Kiba grabbed his shoulder and roughly attempted to turn him around.

"Don't just walk past me like I don't even matter you son of a bi-UGHHH!" Kiba had the air knocked out of him before he could complete his insult.

"Keep your hands off me dog breath, this has nothing to with you." Naruto said coldly, Kiba looked up at Naruto with a scowl on his face, but unable to do anything more. Shino stood to the side and shook his head at his teammate almost as if to tell him he got what he deserved.

Hinata however was shocked that Naruto had injured Kiba, "Naruto-kun that was uncalled for." She said angrily kneeling down to check on her teammate. "You didn't need to do that." She looked up at Naruto, her hand still on Kiba's shoulder; and missed the smirk on his face at her actions.

"Why are you defending him? He was the one who started it; I only came to talk to you." Naruto said defensively, thinking maybe he had gone a little too far.

"It doesn't matter, you could have talked to me without hurting him, he was only looking out for me." Hinata said looking at Naruto defiantly. She just didn't like when people hurt her friends, even if was Naruto.

"Hinata-chan? Oh, I-I see." Naruto said hurt filling his eyes, "I understand, I'll leave you alone then." He said before he disappeared in a small puff of smoke.

The Kyuubi's host had mistaken Hinata's urge to protect her friend as a rejection from her learning the truth. Hinata, realizing what he must have thought, was horrified at what had just happened. But it was too late for her to go after him, as Kurenai arrived just a moment after Naruto disappeared, and all thoughts of pursuit were squashed.

"What's going on here? What happened to Kiba?" Kurenai asked moving over to her student who still clutching his stomach and Hinata who still had her hand on his shoulder and staring at the place Naruto had been standing moments later. Tears began to fall out of the young Hyuga's pale eyes.

"Hinata what wrong, Shino what happened here?" Kurenai asked growing steadily more frustrated at the lack of information given.

"Naruto arrived a few moments ago to speak with Hinata; Kiba intercepted and started a confrontation with Naruto. Naruto winded Kiba, Hinata defended Kiba, and Naruto left." Shino said simply, "Then you arrived Kurenai-sensei."

Understanding filled the Jonin. "Hinata are you ok."

Hinata shook her head, "Kurenai-sensei, can I go after him, I need to explain, he misunderstood, and I can't let him think that…" Hinata said all this in a rush as she fought to get her composure back.

"I'm sorry Hinata, but we have a mission, and even if I did let you, from my understanding he and his team should be heading out on a mission of their own to Wave Country in less than ten minutes."

Hinata looked nothing short of terrified at the news, "H-how l-long will th-they be g-gone?" Hinata asked fighting back the urge to break down and cry.

"A few weeks, a month, maybe more, it's hard to say with a mission like that." Kurenai said carefully watching her surrogate daughter.

Hinata felt empty, hollow, broken, she had possibly ruined the one thing that made her happy. She felt an arm wrap around her she turned her head slightly seeing who it was, before throwing it off of her and getting up to walk away.

"Hinata wait…" Kiba began.

"Leave me alone Kiba!" Hinata shouted at him, "This is all your fault, if you hadn't grabbed Naruto then none of this would have happened!"

"Hinat-ughh!" Kiba began but for the second time in less than thirty minutes the air was completely knocked out of him. This time, to everyone's surprise, it was Shino who had struck him.

"You've done enough Kiba, leave her alone." Shino said coldly, "Come on we have a mission to do."

Naruto was waiting outside the gate for the rest of his team, going over everything that had just happened.

'I was a fool to think that she could handle it already, she's still too young. It's only natural for her to be afraid of me, in time maybe she'll come around, I hope.'

His thoughts began to take a darker turn as he thought of the way Kiba had smirked when Hinata had come to his defense. 'Maybe she has feelings for Kiba; it's pretty obvious that he has feeling for her.' Naruto felt a rage building up inside him at the thought of the Inuzuka boy putting his filthy lips on 'his' Hinata. He began to think of hundreds of different ways to inflict pain on Kiba, when he was suddenly brought out of his thoughts by a familiar voice.

"Whoa let's keep that killing intent to a bare minimum shall we." Kakashi said without taking his eyes off his book, then still without moving his head at all he pointed to the man next to him, "We don't want to give our client here a heart attack."

"Yeah, sorry about that Tazuna-san." Naruto said scratching his head absentmindedly, noticing that Sasuke and Sakura were behind Kakashi, both looking a little uncomfortable from the terrible killing intent that there teammate was releasing. "Well then let's get this show on the road shall we." Naruto said quickly trying to avoid any questions; he didn't really feel like talking very much.

The group left without any further conversation, though Sakura and Sasuke both shot Naruto curious looks whenever he wasn't paying attention. 'I can't believe that idiots' aura was so strong, how is he getting so strong so fast?' Sasuke thought savagely to himself glaring at Naruto with jealousy in his eyes, though he would never admit that in a million years.

'Wow, I thought that aura belonged to a Jonin, at the very least a high Chunin, but I would never have thought it was coming from Naruto-kun… what am I thinking adding kun… he's just Naruto yeah just Naruto…' Sakura thought tearing her green eyes off of the blondes back and staring at the ground. 'Hmmm it doesn't looked it's rained recently.' The young, inexperienced kunoichi simply shrugged it off as she looked away from the two seemingly out of place puddles in the road.

Suddenly Sakura stopped dead in her tracks as her sensei was wrapped in a chained and apparently cut to pieces. Time seemed to slow down as she took in the scene in front of her. After disposing of Kakashi the ninja turned their sights on Naruto, what happened shocked everyone. Sasuke, who had just begun to move to protect his weaker teammate, found his action was unneeded, and completely unnecessary. He stood in place stunned at what had just taken place, one second the two ninja were behind Naruto poised to strike him down just as they had Kakashi, the next they were unconscious bleeding from their heads profusely, where they had apparently been bashed into one another.

What truly bothered Sasuke was the fact that not only was he not even able to see what had happened, but Naruto was standing in the exact same spot looking as though nothing had happened at all. Sakura had not moved an inch and was just as disturbed as her raven haired teammate.

'What the hell just happened?' was the thought of both genin and the now completely sober Tazuna.

"Good job Naruto." Kakashi as he appeared nonchalantly next to Sakura, speaking as though Naruto had merely gotten an answer correctly on a test. The masked Jonin then turned to Tazuna, giving him his famous eye smile. "I think you may want to explain this though, seeing as you only paid for a C-Ranked mission."

Tazuna sweat dropped and began to explain. Five minutes later the old man finished and was shocked and happy to find that the ninja were not just going to leave him and his village to die. That happiness was short lived however when they came across there next opponent shortly after.

A sword came flying out of the woods at an insane speed, "Everyone get down!" Kakashi yelled, everyone ducked but the blade never passed over their heads. "Zabuza Momochi, A-Ranked Missing-nin of Kirigakure, former member of The Seven Ninja Swordsman of the Mist." Kakashi said holding the huge sword easily by its hand, and looking at the man who had thrown it, as he landed care free on a tree branch just above where the sword would have implanted itself in the trees trunk. Without ever taking his eyes off of Zabuza he used the sword to point into the tree, "And Haku, last surviving member of the Yuki Clan, and possessor of the Ice-Release kekkei genkai."

Zabuza's eyes grew wide as Kakashi spoke, and even wider as one of Kakashi's brat jumped down from where said ninja had just pointed, holding an unconscious Haku over his shoulder. Once again shock rippled through all present, with the exception of Kakashi and Naruto, or both Naruto's as one was still lying next to his teammates.

Zabuza stood stunned as he watched the young blonde ninja walk over to Kakashi; he laid Haku at his feet before binding him with rope that had a special seal on it to keep the one tied up from using chakra. 'That's one strong brat if he could take Haku out without even breaking a sweat. Either way this is not good, not only does that bastard have my sword, but now my backup is out of commission.' Zabuza thought frantically, trying to come up with a way out, he couldn't die here, not yet, not while he still had to complete his only goal.

"Give up Zabuza, this fight was over before it even began, and if you haven't noticed you've lost." Kakashi said calmly lifting his hitai-ate revealing his Sharingan.

Zabuza knew what the man said was true, but he was not about to give up just yet. "Kakashi of the Sharingan, I should have expected nothing less from you, but you underestimate me." Zabuza began to blur through hand signs, suddenly an unnaturally thick mist began to envelope the area, and just as suddenly it began to dissipate.

The sight that they met when the mist cleared, was the swordsman surrounded by four men, each with a blade on the skin above a vital organ. Each wearing a mask similar to the stolen one Haku had worn. There was nothing Zabuza could do but accept his defeat. He let his arms hang down but held his head up high, never letting fear show in eyes, as he looked at the Hunter-nin, "I have no regrets." He said then turned his eyes back to Kakashi, "Hatake, do me a favor will you? Take care of the boy, he has incredible skill and no ties to any village, so there shouldn't be any issues. He still has a pure heart, but he should make a great shinobi."

Kakashi looked back at Zabuza; "No." was all he said, before he motioned for his team to follow him, as he turned to leave, leaving Haku tied up on the ground. Zabuza was enraged at that point, however unable to move, he settled for cursing his fellow masked ninja.

"Damn you Kakashi, I'll meet you in hell and we'll settle this there!" Zabuza yelled releasing an enormous amount of killing intent.

"Oh, I'm sure we'll meet much sooner than that." Kakashi said with an eye smile.

Confusion crossed Zabuza's face, "What the hell are you talking about?" Zabuza spat as Haku began to stir.

"He means that we are not here to kill you, but to bring you back to the village alive." The hunter-nin standing directly behind Zabuza said, with his kunai pointed directly at the base of his skull. "You are being asked to join the village council, all of your previous 'indiscretions' against the Fourth Mizukage will be pardoned, if you agree to aid Fifth Mizukage. If you decline this offer we are ordered to kill you where you stand."

"F-Fifth Mizukage? What happened to Yagura?" Zabuza asked unable to believe what he was hearing.

"The Fourth was overthrown by the Fifth; it happened quite recently and has been kept very quiet. It's not a surprise that you have not heard the news yet." The same hunter-nin spoke again, "What do you say, will you accept or do you die now?"

"Zabuza-san, I think that we should go back, after all your dream was to change the village for the better, and now you have that opportunity. You'll be working directly with the Mizukage; this is our chance to stop running." Haku said earnestly to his mentor and father figure.

"Haku." Zabuza understood what was going through the young boys mind, and he didn't want him to die because of his pride. Zabuza knew that if he were to give the order Haku would gladly give his to please him. He had, over the years grown fond of the boy, began to love him as a son, even if he would never say such things. He shrugged his shoulders, "When do we leave?"

"We have one more mission to do, then we head back to Kiri." The Hunter-nin said

"What kind of mission?" Zabuza asked curiously.

The hunter-nin removed his mask and looked at Zabuza, "An assassination." Ao said with a smirk on his face.


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry about the long wait, been a crazy month. This chapter is a little shorter than the last, again my apologies. **

**well hope you enjoy, I will try to have chapter 5 up asap. **

**as always reviews are more than welcome.**

**Chapter 4**

It had been a week since Team Seven had left on their mission, and Hinata had not had any news as to how it was going or when they would return. She was worried that something may have happened to Naruto, and afraid that even if he returned he would want nothing more to do with her. She came close to going back to the way she once was, but decided that she honor everything she had learned in her short time with the blond, even if it would be all that she had left, she would hold onto everything, and become a strong Kunoichi that Naruto would be proud of.

Kurenai had been worried for her student, as well as her teams' dynamics. But after the first she came to realize that she had nothing to worry about. Hinata was performing much better than before, her attacks were fiercer and more precise, and there was no more hesitation when she would strike. As for the team itself, they performed as they usually did, though Hinata would only talk to Kiba when required to, and surprisingly Shino was also giving the Inuzuka the cold shoulder. He did not like the underhanded tricks, his teammate used in attempting to gain Hinata's affection, nor the fact that he was willing to break her heart for his own selfish reasons. All in all, the atmosphere that no surrounded team eight was less than friendly, and at times even hostile.

"Again!" Anko shouted sadistically, throwing a kunai perilously close to her charges head, cutting a few strands of mint green hair. "Again! Closer together and Faster this time!" she shouted throwing another kunai with a twisted smile on her face.

"Yes Anko-sensei!" Fu replied taking more senbon needles between each of her fingers, quickly taking aim, and throwing them once again in quick succession, on the practice dummy, over where a heart would be were the senbon, group together to spell out the words "Anko Is Great"

"Better, now do the liver!" Anko said a sadistic smile gracing her lips. Fu sweat dropped but continued to do as her crazy temporary teacher told her.

"Gato's gone, he's actually dead."

"Yeah, I heard it was all thanks to that group of ninja."

"They must be incredibly strong to have defeated Gato so easily."

"I heard that they took out Gato's rogue ninja without even breaking a sweat."

"Yeah and one of them was a former member of the 'Seven Swordsman of the Mist', not to mention his apprentice.

"That's amazing!"

"Not only that but that blonde one has been an enormous help with building the bridge, it wasn't supposed to be finished for another month, but at the rate its going it'll be finished in a day or two."

"Wow, how could we ever repay them?"

Everywhere that Sasuke went he would hear conversations about Naruto, or something that he knew Naruto had done, even if the villagers didn't know it was him. The more that people thanked him and his team for saving them and bringing hope back to their homeland, the more he began to despise his teammate.

'How did Naruto get so strong so quickly? Has Kakashi been training him in secret? Has someone else been helping him to get stronger? I have to be the one to get stronger, not that dobe, I deserve that strength not him. I have to defeat Itachi to avenge my clan. I'll confront that dobe tonight, and force him to tell me how he got so strong.' Sasuke thought savagely as he walked back to Tazuna's house.

Sakura had been at odds with herself since the short confrontation with Zabuza and Haku. On one side she was both in awe and terrified slightly of Naruto's new found strength. On the other she was slowly coming to a realization about her feelings not only for the blonde but also for her other teammate. She had always assumed that Sasuke was more than what he let show, that in time he would let her in on the man behind the cold eyes and stoic expression.

She had always thought that he was strong, and could help her to get strong as well now that they were teammates, but after seeing his reaction to Naruto's strength, and talking with Naruto a few days ago, Sakura just began to get more and more confused. And the more she tried to see 'underneath the underneath' the more she realized that Naruto was a complete mystery, and Sasuke only cared about one thing, getting stronger for his revenge. The boy she had imagined him to be simply didn't exist, she had created an elaborate fantasy that would never come true. She had thrown away the first and best friend she had ever had over a boy that wouldn't even acknowledge her existence. Just the thought of Ino was enough for the pink haired Kunoichi's heart to hurt, and be filled with guilt.

She thought back on the conversation with Naruto, his words affected her more than she would ever admit.

Flashback

"Naruto, could I have a word with you for a second?" Sakura asked as she finished running laps on the water, while Kakashi remained on the land with Sasuke who was fuming over being the only one who had yet to master the tree walking exercise.

"Sure, what do you need Sakura?" Naruto asked walking over to her, he already had a good idea of what she wanted to talk about.

"Well… You see… The thing is… How did you get so strong?" Sakura asked lamely.

"With hard work and constant training." Naruto said deciding to at least tell her part of the truth. "Why do ask?"

"It's just I never knew you were that strong. You've never shown that kind of strength before, and I thought maybe you had been training with Kakashi-sensei in secret or something." Sakura said glad that he was opening up a little.

"There are many thing that you don't know about me, not that you have ever taken the time to get to know me before." Naruto said without any kind of malice, he merely pointed out the fact. "You were always too busy with Sasuke. Not that it matters now."

"Naruto…" Sakura began but was quickly interrupted by the blonde.

"Like I said it doesn't matter now, is there anything else you wanted to talk about?" Naruto said not wanting to open old wounds any more than necessary.

Sakura was taken aback by the sudden change in subject, but there was still more that she wanted to know. "Yes, I wanted to know if maybe you could help me and Sasuke to become stronger as well." Sakura with determination in her eyes.

"No." Naruto said bluntly.

"What? Why not? Why won't you help us?" Sakura asked outraged by his sudden rejection.

"Why do you want to get stronger Sakura? To impress Sasuke. Why does want to get stronger? To get revenge against his brother. I have no interest in helping either ambition." Naruto said with a serious look on his face.

Sakura stood there unable to reply, she knew what he said was true. "I have no desire to help either of you for such selfish reasons, true strength comes from the desire to protect someone else, to help others. You have no such desire, and until you do I will not help you. As for Sasuke, his thirst for vengeance will never be quenched. He will seek out ways to get strength regardless of the consequence. Even now his hatred for me grows simply because I am stronger than he thinks I should be. He is arrogant and selfish, he believes that everyone is beneath him, which includes you. Tell me Sakura, why is it that you chase him so religiously? Has he even ever noticed you, or given you the time of day? Has he ever even acknowledged that you're alive?" Naruto said in a tone that would be fit in discussing the weather.

Sakura stood speechless, looking as though she had been slapped. Before she had time to think of something articulate to say Naruto began to walk away. "If you truly want to get stronger, do it for yourself and those that you wish to protect." Naruto finished before disappearing into the trees, leaving Sakura to her thoughts.

End of Flashback

Sakura sat with her arms wrapped around her legs in deep thought, growing more and more frustrated at her situation. She knew what she wanted to do, she just didn't how she was going to do it. She sighed in defeat and decided to put it on hold until they returned to Konoha.

Konoha

Silently the ninja walked through the little apartment, his target lay sleeping only a few feet away. As quickly and silently as death itself he struck, before the unsuspecting Genin even had time to register what had just happened he was already dead, a headless corpse. Quickly the ninja sealed the head of the Genin into a scroll, and still without the shadow of a noise he was gone.

Naruto opened his eyes startled, he had just been meditating and recalling old memories, when something quite unexpected happened. Moments ago he had been recalling what he and the reanimated Itachi had discussed after their battle with Nagato, when suddenly the memory became clouded in mist, barely there, almost as though it had never happened. Now this had happened a few times in the past, mainly around memories about a certain Hyuga girl, but never had it happened to this extent, the more he tried to recall the war, the more clouded it became, even his battle with Madara, with the exception of Obito, who remained unclouded.

This worried Naruto as much as it intrigued him. He was by no means an expert when it came to time travel, but he had a theory in regards to what this might be. He thought that this happened only when he changed something from the previous timeline, if it didn't happen or happened differently than the original outcome would also change, leaving the clouded memories in his mind. He was still having trouble figuring out which actions would change the future for the better, but at the same time he figured that any future was better than the one he escaped from.

There was one other thing that was on the young Jinchuuriki's mind, he was slowly but surely fusing with his younger self's mind. Not that it was a bad thing, but it was growing increasingly harder to keep his emotions in check. He was still confused as to how to handle this situation with Hinata. He knew it wouldn't be resolved for a while longer, he still had the meeting with the other Jinchuuriki that he would be leaving for as soon as he returned to the village to get Fu. Almost immediately after his return from the gathering, he had to participate in the Chunin exams, which left him little to no time at all to try to talk with Hinata.

The only thing that Naruto could say in this situation, were words from one of the smartest men he had ever known, "Troublesome."

"Hey dobe, come with me." Sasuke said barging into the room without bothering to knock.

"What the hell do you want Sasuke?" Naruto said without even looking at his raven haired teammate, annoyed that he had been pulled away from his thought.

"I want you to fight me." Sasuke said heatedly, not liking the way Naruto wouldn't even look at him when he was talking. "It's time for us to finally show who the stronger one is."

"Go away teme, I have better things to do than play around with you." Naruto said flatly.

"I knew you were nothing more than a coward, once dead last always dead last eh Naruto." Sasuke said trying everything he could to get under the blondes skin.

"Fine, don't say I didn't warn you." Naruto said still in the flat voice standing up without looking at Sasuke. "Meet me outside." He finished before he disappeared in swirl of leaves.

Five minutes later Sasuke was staring daggers at Naruto who merely looked bored. For a few more moments they just looked at one another, then both moved faster than the untrained eye could see. Sasuke was attacking without hesitation, putting everything he had into beating Naruto, and failing miserably. Naruto was completely and almost effortlessly dodging every single attack that Sasuke threw at him, succeeding in infuriating the Uchiha further.

"Fight me damn it!" Sasuke yelled out in frustration unable to land a single blow.

"As you wish." Naruto said in the same bored tone instantly going from defense to offence.

Ten seconds later Sasuke, who had been easily taken down and immobilized, was looking up from the ground in disbelief, "How? How did you get so strong?"

Naruto looked down at the boy he had once considered his brother, "Through sweat, blood, tears and hard work." He said with a look in his eye that no twelve year old boy should have, the eyes of a man who had seen far too many battles, and far too much death. "This strength wasn't given to me, it was earned, and it was gained by never giving up. Something a born genius like yourself can never understand, everything always came so easily to you, you never really had to work for it. Someone like you can never become as strong as someone like me. You rely on your natural talents and your Sharingan to excel, whereas I rely only on my own strength, and resilience to move forward. You desire strength for the sole purpose of avenging your clan regardless of what happens to anyone else along the way, I desire strength to protect those that are precious to me as well as those who cannot protect themselves. And for these reasons you will never beat me, you will never be stronger than I am."

Naruto looked directly in too the eyes of his teammate, "You may be a genius in the eyes of the village and other shinobi, but I am a genius too, a genius of hard work." He finished and turned his back on Sasuke, before disappearing in a swirl of leaves, leaving the stunned and confused Genin unable to move with only his thoughts for company.

The return trip to Konoha was quiet and rather uneventful, Naruto and Kakashi were in the lead having a conversation about the upcoming book for the Icha Icha series. Taking up the rear were Sasuke and Sakura, neither of them were talking, or even looking at anyone else. They simply stared straight ahead, in deep thought about their own conversation with Naruto. It wasn't until they reached the gates of the village did they even realize how far they had traveled.

"Ok I will go report to the Hokage about the success of the mission. Naruto you may go and prepare for your next mission, then head straight to Hokage tower, Fu will be waiting for you there." He then turned to the other two, "You two are dismissed, we will meet up tonight with team eight for a mandatory dinner, I will let you know the place and time when I bring you your pay vouchers."

Naruto had already gone before Kakashi had finished giving the others there instructions, Sasuke noticed and spoke up before Kakashi had the chance to leave as well. "What mission is he going on already, and why aren't we, his team, going with him?"

Kakashi looked at him for a moment before answering, "The mission in question is a private matter between Naruto, Fu and the Hokage. I cannot divulge its details with anyone, even his own teammates. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get to the Hokage's office." And with that Kakashi vanished in a swirl of leaves.

Sakura turned to look at Sasuke, and was taking slightly off guard by what she saw. She had expected him to question Kakashi further and demand answers like he usually did. She had expected him to get angry and storm off in one of his childlike silent tantrums. What Sakura had not expected was too see a look of understanding and acceptance on the face of the young Uchiha. She watched as he turned around and walked away silently. 'Soon, very soon, I'll be as strong as you Naruto.' Sasuke thought before turning his head back to his pink haired teammate, "Let's go grab something to eat." And with that he kept walking, not waiting for a reply.

"Lord Hokage, our mission to wave was a success. The land was liberated and Gato is no longer a threat to anyone, and as requested all his money and assets have been distributed to help rebuild the economy of wave." Kakashi said as he stood in front of the Third Hokage.

"Excellent, and what is the status of your team?" Sarutobi asked going over the report Kakashi handed to him.

"Both Sakura and Sasuke have gone through a significant change. Sakura has begun to take her training far more seriously, and has improved by leaps and bounds. I will be filing a request tomorrow for to begin training part time as a medical Nin, and asking Kurenai Yuhi to teach her more in depth in the art of Genjutsu." Sarutobi nodded his head in approval, and Kakashi continued, "Sasuke has had a rather life altering encounter with Naruto, and as far as I could tell, it was for the better. He seems more determined now than ever before to become stronger, however he is no longer interested in having power simply handed to him. In his own words he told me this, _'I will defeat Itachi, but with my own power, with the power of my natural talent combined with the power of hard work. Only then will I be satisfied, only then will the honor of my clan be restored.'_ The boy seems to have been completely humbled."

"A very interesting turn of events indeed, and what of Naruto?" Sarutobi asked looking away from the report for the first time.

"It would seem that Naruto, even without the use of Kyuubi's chakra, is well beyond Chunin or even average Jonin. And given the unique way that the boy trains, and the intensity of the training himself, I'd say in a few months he could give me a run for my money as well. His Ninjutsu is limited but extremely impressive, comprised of nearly all A and S-Rank Techniques, all usable on a master level. What would take years for a Jonin level ninja to learn and master to that degree would take Naruto only a few weeks." Sarutobi's face showed no shock but a look that clearly showed he was impressed. "His Taijutsu isn't nearly at the level of Guy but it too is impressive, and his ability to improvise on the fly is second to none. His Genjutsu is average. Overall he is a shinobi to be feared, he will pass the Chunin exams without much effort and even the Jonin exams if he wished too." Kakashi finished talking and waited for the response of the man sitting across from him.

"This leaves much to think about. When should I expect him and Fu to arrive?" Sarutobi asked as he looked at the one eyed Jonin.

"Within the hour, I think, I sent a message to Anko shortly before we arrived back to the village, Naruto is already preparing." Kakashi said as he readied himself to leave.

"Good, here are the pay vouchers for you team, you are dismissed." Sarutobi said handing Kakashi the pay slips, and sitting back down.

"Thank you Lord Hokage." Kakashi said before disappearing in swirl of leaves.

After Kakashi was gone the Sarutobi twitched his fingers a in a less than noticeable way, two hooded figures appeared in front of him kneeling down.

"Yes Lord Hokage." The ANBU in a wolf mask said.

"Bring 'those two' too me." Sarutobi said, and without another word the two elite ninja vanished. Hiruzen Sarutobi put his face in his hands and squeezed the bridge of his nose, he really hated feeling his, and the time was closely approaching for him to, yet again, choose a successor.

Naruto was running out of time, he had managed to pack all of his things in only a few minutes, for the past fifty minutes, of the hour he was allotted, he had spent in a desperate search for Hinata. He was forced to abandon his search however as he once again checked the time, "Damn it, only five minutes to get to the Hokage's office." Naruto said himself, as he turned around and began moving towards his new destination at breakneck speed.

With only thirty seconds to spare Naruto walked into the old man's office, Fu was already there as were two other ninja Naruto had not been expecting to see. "And here I was beginning to think you were going to be late." Said the first ninja.

"NONSENSE, NARUTO BURNS BRIGHTLY WITH THE FLAMES OF YOUTH!" The second man yelled excitedly in his 'Nice Guy' pose, causing everyone to sweat drop.

"Pervy Sage, Bushy-Brow Sensei what are you two doing here?" Naruto asked as he looked at the men standing next to Fu. Earning him a fist to the back of his head by Jiraiya.

"I have asked you a million times not to call me that." Jiraiya said as hit his godson a second time, "Anyway, we are your escorts to the meeting. Every village is allowed to send two escorts with their Jinchuuriki."

"Yes and we, One of the legendary Sannin and great toad sage Jiraiya, and Konoha's Green Beast Might Guy!" Guy said yet again in his 'Nice Guy' pose, this time with an odd shine from his smile which had to be the effect of some kind of Genjutsu. "With us around, no danger shall dare to show its face, I won't let a single hair on either of your heads be touched by the enemy, and if can't do that I will do one thousand laps around Konoha using only my hand while balancing Lee on my feet, and I if can't do that then I will…" He never got to finish because at that moment Sarutobi chose to interrupt him with a cough.

"Guy, they already left." The Hokage said as he returned to his paperwork.

Guy deadpanned as he bowed to the Hokage before running out the door to catch up to the others, who were waiting outside the tower. Together Jiraiya, Guy, Fu and Naruto took to the roofs, and made their way to the village gates, it was a long journey to get to their destination, and they only had two days to get there.

Just as Naruto exited the gates another team entered, and for the briefest of moments, blue eyes met white hinted with lavender. Then the moment was gone, and in seconds Naruto had already lost sight of her. There was no time to stop, no matter how much he wanted too, no matter how much he wanted to turn around and embrace her, he had to keep moving forward.

Blue eyes met white ones that were tinted with lavender, for only a moment in time it felt as though everything had disappeared, like the world outside those eyes vanished, like everything was as it should be. Then the moment was gone, the world started once more, and within seconds the blue eyes were gone, not even turning to look back, and see the tears.

"He d-didn't say anything to m-me, I haven't seen him in a week and h-he didn't even l-look b-back." Hinata said as tears fell down her cheeks. She had been anticipating this moment for days, upon hearing that Naruto was back in the village, she rushed back at full speed, determined to make things right, to get her Naruto back. She would make him understand that she didn't care about the stupid fox inside him, and that she didn't have those kind of feelings for Kiba, that she wanted to be with him, Naruto, and no one else. And then she saw him, and then he was gone, not a single word passed between them.

"Hinata, I'm sure he would have stopped if he could have, he's probably on a mission and just doesn't have time to stop, and he was with Lord Jiraiya after all, not to mention Might Guy. He would be lucky just to keep up." Kurenai said putting an understanding hand on her students shoulder. "Let's go turn our report now, then you all can take the rest of the day off." She then leaned in and whispered into Hinata's ear so that only she could hear, "And you can ask the Hokage when Naruto will be coming back." There it was and Kurenai saw it right away, that small but strong glimmer of hope in her eyes, she knew she had reached Hinata.

"Ok." Hinata said looking at her teacher, "Let's go." Without waiting for the rest of her team Hinata took off, her destination, Hokage tower, followed moments later by her team.

'_Maybe I still have a shot after all, it looked Naruto didn't even want to acknowledge Hinata. He didn't say a word to her, heck he didn't even look back.'_ Kiba thought as they jumped from roof to roof through village.

'_I hope Kiba doesn't do or say anything stupid.'_ Kurenai thought as she looked at the back of her students.

'_That was very odd indeed, my insects seemed extremely excited when that girl passed me, were they reacting to her chakra. Perhaps she also uses insects. I will try to find out more about her if I can.' _ Shino thought as he tried to calm his colony down.

'_Naruto-kun, please don't give up on me, on us yet.'_ Hinata thought clinging to the little hope she still had.

"You spent more time with her than I did, what do you think of her skills, what level do you think she is at?" Kakashi asked the female sitting next to him.

"She is easily Chunin level, not yet Jonin, but she could be there within a year or two. Her chakra reserves are well beyond the normal Jonin, but not quite as large as Naruto's. Her chakra control is pretty bad, she can barely do the tree walking exercise, and she's completely incapable of water walking yet. I recommend working on that first, her jutsu is minimal, mostly D and C-Rank, none of which she has mastered. Her Taijutsu and speed are nearly Jonin level, and her ability to use weapons is high Chunin. She is extremely intelligent, but she rarely shows it." Anko finished eating before she continued, "That girl is a real diamond in the ruff, she will make a valuable and powerful leaf shinobi, her village was foolish for exiling her."

"Thank you, I now have a much better idea of how to train her." Kakashi said as he stood to leave, "And thank you again for doing me this favor."

Before Kakashi could leave however, he was stopped when a kunai landed exactly where his foot would have been if had taken another step. "You can repay me a little tonight, with dinner and desert, your treat of course." Anko said as she walked over to him seductively, placing her hand on his chest "Thank you Kakashi I'd love to." She said in a slightly lustful voice.

The only part of Kakashi's face that could be seen looked unaffected and bored, but if anyone were able to see his face under the mask, they would see the elite Jonin blushing bright enough to rival a certain Hyuga, he was after all a closet pervert. But before he could do anything Anko had disappeared in a swirl of leaves. "Excuse me Ninja-san, here is your bill."

"Huh?" Was Kakashi most intelligent response.

"The Kunoichi you were just talking to, she said that you would be paying her tab." The waitress said handing Kakashi the bill.

"Oh, yeah no problem." Kakashi said before opening up the bill and nearly fainting at the amount written down, "How much did that women eat today?" He demanded shocked at the outrageous amount this place must surely charge.

"You misunderstand, Miss Anko eats here so often that we opened a tab for her that she pays every month, today is collection day." The waitress said pleasantly.

Kakashi sweat dropped, why he agreed to pay before he even looked at the amount. It's not like he could go back on his word now, he too was a man of his word. Reluctantly, very, very reluctantly he pulled out his wallet, and nearly cried as she handed it back to him nearly empty.

'_I can't believe fell for that.'_ Kakashi thought miserably putting his considerably thinner and lighter wallet back into his pocket. So much for looking underneath the underneath.

"_Hinata! Run, get out of here! You're no match for them!" Naruto shouted, unable to get to her side to help her. _

_Kiba lay dead only a few feet away, he died protecting Naruto. ("Protect her Naruto, she has always loved you, and I have always loved her, protect her." Were his last words.)_

_Time appeared to be slowing down, or maybe his adrenaline was just pumping to fast. All Naruto knew was that for some unknown reason, his eyes were drawn to a single kunai flying slowly through the air. Fear spread through his veins like poison, as the kunai slowly came closer to its target, as though being guided by the hand of death himself._

"NOOOOO!" Naruto awoke screaming with tears in his eyes, it took him a few seconds before he realized he had been dreaming. A nightmare that had plagued his dreams for months before his return to the past. He focused his eyes and realized that there was someone over him.

"Naruto-kun, are you ok?" Fu asked as she leaned over him, she had been trying to wake him for a few minutes, after he had begun to talk in his sleep. "I was so worried when you started yelling…" she let her sentence hang feeling slightly embarrassed as she noticed the close proximity between them. Her lips were only inches from his, one of her hands on his chest the other on his cheek, and if anyone were to see the two they would presume they were lovers, seconds away from a passionate kiss.

"S-sorry about that, I was having a nightmare." Naruto said as he gently moved Fu's hands so he could sit up, he too had instantly noticed how close they were to one another, as well as the slight blush that was spreading across her cheeks, and for the shortest of moments, he was tempted to stroke her cheek. Before the thought had fully developed in his mind however, he stopped it, shocked that he would even consider such a thing. He loved Hinata, and no matter how far away she was, whether they were together or not, he would not betray his feelings for her. _'What the hell was that all about?' _

And that's when it struck him, like a blacksmith would an anvil, Fu just then had reminded him of Hinata. The shy way she blushed, was the same as the young Hyuga heiress. Feeling slightly relieved that he was not developing a cheaters mentality, Naruto began to look at his surroundings. "Where is that perverted hermit and bushy brow-sensei?"

Fu, who still had a small blush gracing her cheeks, pointed to the door, "Lord Jiraiya said something about research, and Guy-sensei said he was going to survey the area again."

They sat there for a few minutes in a fairly awkward silence, before Naruto came up with a brilliant idea that was guaranteed to work. "So, do you want to go get some breakfast?" absolutely genius.

Fu smiled widely at that, "Sure that sounds good."

The young Uchiha was lying on his back alone in his back yard in the now completely deserted Uchiha compound. Exhaustion was threatening to overtake him. He had been continuously training since the sun had risen, trying desperately to quiet the storm of thoughts raging in his mind. He had always thought that being the top of his class meant that he was the best, but Naruto had thrown that idea straight to hell. Another thought was poking at him, if he had been so wrong about Naruto, who else could he have been wrong about, who else might have surpassed him while his superiority complex was blinding him to the truth.

It was then that Sasuke realized something, there was one person that might be able answer some of his questions. There was one other person that Naruto had spent a lot of time with for a while now. _'Hinata.'_ Sasuke shot up, and immediately made his way to the Hyuga compound. Maybe she could at least tell him what kind of training the boy was doing, or who he was training with. He would settle for any information he could get.

Hinata was making her way back to her room after her evening training session with her father, panting slightly from the exertion. She now far surpassed her little sister in terms of speed, strength, and raw power. In fact at the moment she could go toe to toe with Neji by only removing two-fifths of her extra weight. Without her weights at all she was easily the strongest Genin Kunoichi in the Leaf.

"Lady Hinata, you have a visitor." Came the voice of a branch house member walking up behind her, just as Hinata was about to open the door to her room.

Sighing in her mind, Hinata turned around keeping all emotion off her face, "Thank you for telling me, who is it?" she asked not really interested at all, she already knew it wasn't her Naruto, the Hokage told her that he would not be returning for at least a week.

"I believe it was the student of Kakashi Hatake," Hinata's heart skipped a beat, hoping that perhaps Naruto hadn't needed a week after all, "Sasuke Uchiha." Her heart fell in disappointment, she felt foolish for letting herself get her hopes up. "He is waiting at the gates."

"I'll be there shortly, please show him inside." Hinata said turning back to her room, she wasn't in any kind of rush to see Sasuke. She took her time changing her clothes, and fifteen minutes later Hinata made her way down to where Sasuke was waiting. She entered the room to see Sasuke standing there waiting patiently for her.

"Lady Hinata." Sasuke said as he bowed to her.

"Sasuke, is there something I can help you with." Hinata asked trying to get directly to point.

Sasuke slightly taken aback by Hinata's sudden business like demeanor, got straight to the reason he was there, "I wanted to speak with you about my teammate, Naruto."

Hinata had been caught slightly off guard, she was not expecting this conversation to be about the object of her affection, "What about Naruto-kun?"

"I know you two have been spending quite a lot of time together. I have even seen you two sparing on occasion, what I would like for you to tell me is… How did Naruto get so strong? Has he been training with someone in secret? If so do you know who it is?" Sasuke said in a rush, trying to say what he needed to say.

Hinata sighed, this was definitely not a conversation she wanted to have.


End file.
